Ein Übersetzungsroadtrip.
Dreistimmiges Journal zur Übersetzung des Romans Töchter von Lucy Fricke
Ein Journal, dem Roman angemessen, als literarischer Roadtrip; eine temperamentvolle, witzige Chronik des Ringens um die bestmögliche Verwandlung einer Geschichte, eines Erzähltons, einer Stimmung in eine andere Sprache.
Lucy Fricke’s Töchter: A Translation Road Trip
A journal as a literary road trip, as the novel itself is; a spirited, witty chronicle of the struggle to best transform a story, a narrative tone, a mood, into another language.
Being Everyone
»Not only does the difference pose no hindrance; it is absolutely necessary. In translation, the text’s new life, its vitality, stems largely from the tension between non-equivalence and the illusion, the “acting”, of equivalence.«
When It Blows Up
"I've always scared easily. I’ve been scared of other people, loud trains, big cities, loneliness. And of the blank page. Maybe that’s why translation assumed such an important role in my life when I discovered it many years ago: it opened the world of literature to me, yet it also created a sense of closeness and intimacy. At the age of 23, I thought I could hide behind the author, that I could find my literary voice without laying myself open to attack."
On Fears and Boundaries
"There has been some discussion recently about whether authors and translators ought to prove ‘legitimacy’ when it comes to representing certain themes. One view is that we can only write or translate a ‘sensitive’ text if we ourselves have had the experiences portrayed. Having recently completed my translation of Clemens Setz’s collection of short stories Der Trost runder Dinge (The Comfort of Round Things), which includes a depiction of a panic attack, I can’t say that having this type of ‘legitimacy’ somehow helped me. I have indeed experienced a panic attack, but this had a negligible effect on my translation."
The Original Watches You
"For a long time, a peculiar type of fear deterred me from translation: unlike authors, we translators always have the original text in front of us, watching us, or at least that’s how it feels to me. There’s something daunting about having to follow an existing piece of writing."
Sensitivities about Retranslating Transit
»Given that they have such a direct historical link to Mexico yet are practically unknown here, with copies very hard to track down, Anna Seghers’s books are virtually crying out for Mexican Spanish editions.«
On Fear and Touch
»Not being able to touch something is far worse, I thought, because there’s no way to release the fear. Perhaps it is because of this night on the train, when I witnessed two stories truly “touch“ each other, that I believe in the power and importance of touch.«