Journale Lucy Fricke’s Töchter: A Translation Road Trip

A ROADMAP TO TRANSLATION

by María Tellechea, translated by Sinéad Crowe


In mid-2018 I decided to go to Germany for six months, as it had been five years since I’d last immersed myself in the literary world there. I arranged to take a one-semester sabbatical from my teaching position at the University of Buenos Aires and applied for the LCB Sommerakademie 1, which was scheduled to take place in Berlin in the last week in August. Having taken part in the Sommerakademie back in 2013, I knew how important it was for my work as a translator to be in a place where translators come together with German authors and publishers. And I knew it was a fantastic opportunity to meet other translators, people whose working lives were very similar to mine.

María (left) und Sinéad (right) first met at the Sommerakademie in Berlin.

That year there seemed to be an almost endless number of new titles that seemed worth translating. But Töchter was one of the books that most appealed to me. I liked the plot, the genre, the fact that the main characters were around the same age as myself, the themes and problems the novel addresses, the humour and irony of the dialogue, and even the book cover, which evoked a road trip. When Lucy read from her novel for us Sommerakademie participants – sixteen translators from all over the world – I was struck by the tone, which managed to be tragic (or tragicomic) without being melodramatic, sarcastic without being cruel. Töchter has moments of levity, yet it is never superficial. There are moments of depth, too, yet the book lacks philosophical pretention. And the title spoke directly to me. It had personal significance, because I am the daughter of a father and mother, a position I have held for almost forty years now. Indeed, I felt an affinity with the daughters of Lucy’s novels, as like them, I am the child of parents who were young in the 1970s. At the Sommerakademie, Lucy summarised the plot for us: the two central characters, Martha and Betty, who have been friends for twenty years, are on their way to a euthanasia clinic with Martha’s terminally ill father. As Lucy spoke, I instinctively found myself reflecting on my own role as a daughter. Running through my head was the thought that my parents, too, were gradually drawing nearer to old age and ultimately death.

There was another reason the title spoke to me on a personal level: it reminded me of the widespread pro-choice demonstrations going on in Argentina at the time. In June of that year, the entire feminist movement – in particular, younger feminists galvanised by the debate surrounding abortion rights – had taken to the streets. In the parliament2, i in schools, at home and online, they called for abortion to be legalised. Some named this new political movement “The Girls’ Revolution” (la revolución de las pibas).3 Others went further, calling it “The Daughters’ Revolution” (la revolución de las hijas).4 On one level, this sobriquet evoked associations of the “Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo”. 5 On another, it pointed to the fact that the daughters of lawmakers (in particular male lawmakers) were seeking to influence their parents’ legislative decisions.

María with Norita Cortiñas, a tireless campaigner for human rights and a Mother of the Plaza de Mayo.

So it only seemed right that I should read the book with a view to adopting it as a translation project. In the following months, I read Töchter and loved it. It was completely engrossing, and I saw myself reflected in it so often that I knew I had to translate it, perhaps because that would allow me to get to know the novel in the special way that only translating offers. I contacted Lucy as I was still in Germany and planned on returning to Berlin for a while. I wanted to tell her about my plans because I felt it was important to get her on board. I knew from experience that for various reasons (usually financial ones), translation projects don’t always get off the ground. I hoped to win Lucy over to the idea of being published in Argentina so that I’d have her on my side when it came to negotiating rights. I should point out here that such negotiations tend to be difficult for Argentinian publishers, in particular small and medium-sized ones that struggle to pay for expensive foreign titles by contemporary authors. Yet at the same time, it is often the independent publishers that are prepared to take the risk of trusting recommendations from translators and publishing authors unfamiliar to Argentine readers.

In a bar in Kreuzberg in December 2018, I shared with Lucy my experiences of translating other works of contemporary German literature and told her about the publisher I wanted to pitch the project to: Odelia Editora. I explained that this publishing house is run by eight women interested in high-quality contemporary literature with a feminist slant. Lucy was immediately interested, and she listened carefully as I explained how we might avoid potential stumbling blocks in negotiations. Finally, she suggested a few passages I might include in the sample translation.

I believe that when a translator chooses a book to translate, she does so because she wants to share it, to enable others to enjoy it as much as she did. This was certainly one of my unconscious motivations. But for me, as a woman, a daughter and part of the same generation as Lucy’s protagonists, the real driving force was my desire to share the book with myself in my own native language, as well as with my parents, my contemporaries and their parents.

After Odelia Editora had taken on the project and secured the rights, Lucy was invited to Argentina to take part in a celebration of twenty-five years of Berlin and Buenos Aires being sister cities. We took advantage of the opportunity to organise an event in the Goethe Institut in Buenos Aires, where we presented excerpts from my translation of the novel. These teasers received an enthusiastic response from the audience member, who were intrigued by the plot. I hope the response to the finished book will be equally positive!

That evening, Lucy, María and the organisers went for a meal in Las cuartetas, a typical Buenos Aires pizzeria.

If you want to find out more about this theme, make your way to these pit stops: THE JOURNEY BEGINS and AND SHE LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER AND DID LOTS AND LOTS OF TRANSLATIONS

 

Drive On.

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