September 30, 2019

Reading List: Books About WWII and Its Aftermath in Translation

It’s International Translation Day and we’re celebrating with a list of recommended reading that is sure to delight World War II buffs and aficionados. Bringing lesser known aspects of the time period to light, this compilation of books in translation...

September 28, 2019

Reading List: Memoirs and Biographies in Translation

Memoirs, biographies and diaries allow readers intimate insight into what life is like for people that are hundreds of miles away or lived hundreds of years ago. These select books offer a glimpse into the complex lives of writers, political...

September 27, 2019

Chen Yea-Fen on The Great Flowing River and Chi Pang-yuan’s Honorary Degree

“The Great Flowing River is one of the great memoirs of modern China. Telling the story of one woman’s odyssey through the twentieth century, this is not just a deeply moving account of Chi Pang-yuan and her family, but a...

September 27, 2019

Reading List: In Tribute to the Late Donald Keene

Donald Keene played a leading role in cementing Japanese literary studies in the United States and other English-speaking communities. His dedication to Japanese culture and faithful translations of fiction and diaries introduced the world to talented writers and shined a new...

September 26, 2019

Sarah Vitali on Necropolis

“Khodasevich’s crystalline, mordant prose is skilfully handled by Sarah Vitali, who has done justice to the text and supplemented it with a wealth of endnotes that illuminate its more allusive and evasive moments. The edition also benefits from a stylish...

September 25, 2019

Sandra Smith on Becoming a Literary Translator

“Despite fleeing first Tsarist Russia and then Nazi-occupied France, Jacques Schiffrin succeeded in being a major literary influence on two continents, establishing first the best edition of French classics and then a key publishing house in New York which would...

September 24, 2019

Donald Keene on Translating Japanese Soldiers’ Diaries

“Gratifying… picaresque…. The pathos at the heart of Keene’s lovely and gracious memoir, and perhaps of his extraordinary life, emanates from this very human limitation: we cannot live in and love two worlds at once.” ~Roland Kelts, Bookforum on Chronicles...

September 24, 2019

New Book Tuesday: American Resistance, The Best American Magazine Writing 2019, Driving Innovation from Within, and More!

Our weekly list of new books is now available! American Resistance From the Women’s March to the Blue Wave Dana R. Fisher The Best American Magazine Writing 2019 Edited by Sid Holt for the American Society of Magazine Editors Driving...

September 22, 2019

Reading List: Crime, Deception and Punishment in Translation

We are continuing to explore literary translations as part of National Translation Month with this reading list of books that delve into themes of crime, deception and punishment. •  •  •  •  •  • From the European Perspectives: A Series in Social...

September 21, 2019

Susanne Fusso on Nikolai Nikolaevich and Camouflage and Yuz Aleshkovsky’s Contribution to Russian Literature

“Joseph Brodsky once noted that Aleshkovsky had a Mozartian ear for the Russian language, and Nikolai Nikolaevich (1970), his first novel, as well as Camouflage (1978), his fourth – written the year before the author emigrated permanently to the US – are indeed virtuoso...

September 20, 2019

José Vergara on Teaching One of the World’s Worst Detective Stories

“Sasha Sokolov’s Between Dog and Wolf, delivered in Alexander Boguslawski’s masterful translation, comprises a daring act of immersion into the depths of language that results in semantic spasms of the great Russian literary body. The highly experimental novel, which unquestionably...

September 20, 2019

Delving Down into Argot: Susan Emanuel on Translating Vice, Crime, and Poverty

“This is a lively and fun read. More than tracing the evolution of living conditions of the poor and indigent, Vice, Crime, and Poverty also represents an important contribution to the histoire des mentalités, telling us how different eras viewed the poor in...