My rating:
add to my books
Loading...
If This Be Treason: Translation and Its Dyscontents
Gregory Rabassa's influence as a translator is incalculable. His translations of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude and Julio Cortazar's Hopscotch have helped make these some of the most widely read and respected works in world literature. (Garcia Marquez was known to say that the English translation of One Hundred Years was better than the Spanish orig...more
Hardcover, 192 pages
Published
April 1st 2005
by New Directions Publishing Corporation
(first published 2005)
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
57)
Ed
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Any English-speaking admirer of Latin American literature.
Recommended to Ed by:
Bob Stewart
The Italian canard "traduttore, traditore" (translator, traitor) leads one to feel that the translator has been held to be a lowly and treacherous knave.
Translation of a novel requires considerably more than knowledge of two languages; the translator must appreciate dialect, colloquialism and slang, and betray their meanings in the "target language" (jargon Rabassa avoids). Rabassa handles this treason, his art, making choices and exposing many authors (...too nu...more
Translation of a novel requires considerably more than knowledge of two languages; the translator must appreciate dialect, colloquialism and slang, and betray their meanings in the "target language" (jargon Rabassa avoids). Rabassa handles this treason, his art, making choices and exposing many authors (...too nu...more
The only reason this is marked 4 stars and not 5 is because I haven't finished it.
Ever since St. John's days, I've been reluctant to read works in translation, since I know how much can be lost by a bad translation, having committed more than my fair share of treason in language tutorials. Reading the first half of Rabassa's memoir, about craftsmanship required of the translator who wishes to avoid betraying author, readers, and herself, led me to a New Year's resolution--to stop avo...more
Ever since St. John's days, I've been reluctant to read works in translation, since I know how much can be lost by a bad translation, having committed more than my fair share of treason in language tutorials. Reading the first half of Rabassa's memoir, about craftsmanship required of the translator who wishes to avoid betraying author, readers, and herself, led me to a New Year's resolution--to stop avo...more
This book is actually kind of slow-going, mostly consisting of strange linguistic digressions and discussions of authors I've never read, or even heard of. It's nerdery at its best, but only makes sense to read if you're really into any of the authors whose books he's done.
But the discussions on Cortazar made it all worth it, for me. For those of you who've read Hopscotch and 62: A Model Kit, I'll tell you this, which will blow your mind: Rabassa translated them without having rea...more
But the discussions on Cortazar made it all worth it, for me. For those of you who've read Hopscotch and 62: A Model Kit, I'll tell you this, which will blow your mind: Rabassa translated them without having rea...more
A memoir by wunderkind translator Gregory Rabassa, the book details his childhood intimations of a facility for languages and his initiation into the art of translation. It also describes, lovingly, his various relationships with authors he translated, the background information on the books he worked on, and his candid estimations of each of his translated author or book. What makes the book very palatable to me, other than Rabassa's priceless interactions with diverse writers, is the inside st...more
I'd like to see a book like this from Howard Goldblatt, one of the most prolific translators of Chinese literature.
If interested in the subtle, nuanced, artistic decisions that a literary translator must wrestle with in pursuing their craft, this book is a must read. It chronicles the life's work of one of the greatest translators of Latin American literature into English and a pioneer in the field by none other than himself. However, only the most devoted students of Mr. Rabassa's life and work will be able to wade through the stream of consciousness style that dwells in self-praise and reminiscences of l...more
This was a slow read, mainly because I was not familiar with many of the authors he talks about nor was I familiar with the linguistic aspects of the novel. However, it has influenced me to read more Latin American and Brazilian authors since the texts he has translated seem really interesting.
the book itself is not amazing - an interesting life told well. however, it is a who's who of Latin American authors who I would never had heard of had I not read this book. For me, it's been a map to finding some of the best books i've ever read.
Gregory Rabassa was born in 1922 in New York State in a Cuban sugar dealer's family. He has had an interest in Romance languages all his life: in high school he took French and Latin, in college French, Spanish and Portuguese, and serving in the U.S. Army during the Allied invasion of Italy, he learned Italian. After the war he went to graduate school, defending a dissertation on black characters in Brazilian fiction, and started teaching at Columbia. He befriended several translators of Latin A...more
Alex Mccauley
added it
Carina
marked it as to-read
Stephanie
added it
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“So the poor translator must not just go back and forth between two languages, but if he is worthy of his calling must shift between two selves, with all the perils of this induced schizophrenia.”
—
3 people liked it
More quotes…
