Why Translation Matters via Niloufar Talebi

Yesterday, while driving home from an amazing training at Double Edge Theatre, I saw what I thought to be a very old book in the middle of the road, its pages fluttering in the wind. Then I thought: No, it has to be a bird, already dead or still dying. The pages weren't pages, but feathers. Suddenly the image took on a whole new meaning. After the training, I recalled the vivid murals lead actor Matthew Glassman showed the group on a tour of the Farm as he gave a brief overview of their performance of Quixote.

I couldn't stop thinking about it until today, when I came across (via translator and poet Niloufar Talebi) a recent article by the poet Richard Howard (who can forget the image of his lilac buds like bullets) on Edith Grossman's new book Why Translation Matters. Though I haven't read her translation of Quixote and have Llosa's The Bad Girl on deck for my "to read" list, her argument, as put forth by Howard, is important. As is the art of translation and its influence on the world of literature.

Image by Dendroica cerulea

posted by nthWORD at 11:49 AM