Journale Prosa Lucy Fricke’s Töchter: A Translation Road Trip
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Lucy Fricke’s Töchter: A Translation Road Trip

HOW TO READ THIS JOURNAL

Published to critical acclaim in Germany in 2018, Lucy Fricke’s bestselling novel Töchter (Daughters) tells the story of Betty and Martha, best friends staring down the barrel of middle age. Betty’s and Martha’s relationships with their parents are … well, let’s just say it’s complicated. When Martha’s terminally ill father, Kurt, persuades her to take him to a Swiss euthanasia clinic, our three protagonists embark on a darkly funny journey across Europe in Kurt’s battered Golf, a journey where nothing ever goes quite according to plan …

We – Sinéad Crowe, Isabelle Liber and María Tellechea– had the privilege of translating Lucy’s novel (into French, Spanish and English respectively) at roughly the same time and have collaborated on this multilingual issue of the TOLEDO-Journal. As we reflected on our experiences of translating this novel, it struck us that like Lucy’s protagonists, we had undertaken a journey of sorts, albeit one that unfolded mostly behind our PC screens.

In the map below, the rough outline of the route followed by Lucy’s characters symbolizes our “road trip” as translators. We invite you to come along for the ride, clicking on the pins to read about some of the translation breakthroughs and breakdowns we experienced along the way.

Ready? As Kurt says: “Right, let’s go!”

 

HOW TO READ THIS JOURNAL

Clicking on each pin in the map above will open an article in a new tab. Underneath each article, you’ll find the words “Drive on”. Clicking on this will bring you to the next “pit stop” in our road trip. But our articles don’t have to be read in any particular order; feel free to zoom in and out and move around however you like!

 

STOPS ALONG THE WAY

1. THE JOURNEY BEGINS

2. A ROADMAP TO A TRANSLATION

3. AND SHE LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER AND DID LOTS AND LOTS OF TRANSLATIONS ...

4. MUSICA! OUR DAUGHTERS PLAYLIST

5. A MEETING TO FIND THE RIGHT PET NAME: MINUTES

6. THE MARZAHN PROBLEM

7. THE FIRST-PERSON NARRATOR

8. SNACKS FOR THE JOURNEY

9. A FIELD TRIP TO THE OASE

10.  TRANSLATORS ON THE ROAD

11. THIS IS NOT A DONKEY

12. TRANSLATING HUMOUR

13. TRANSLATING TUSSI

14.  WHEN WE’RE TUSSIS

15.  TRANSLATING DURING A PANDEMIC

16.  LISTEN CAREFULLY

17. THE DISAPPEARING ACT

18. LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

19.  FAMILY STRIFE

20.  JOURNEY’S END

21.  THE MAKING OF THIS TOLEDO ISSUE

 

THE TRANSLATORS

MARÍA TELLECHEA

SINÉAD CROWE

ISABELLE LIBER

 

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