The End of Days - Translation Issues (April 2016)

[Hugh]

I have created this thread because I am interested in the issues involved in translation, particularly of novels of ideas. This curiosity largely stemmed from reading David Bellos's fascinating book Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything on his life as a literary translator.

My perspective is limited - the English are notoriously poor linguists and although I learned some French and German at school, my German would not be good enough to read a book like this, and I have no reason to question the quality of Susan Bernofsky's work, which is very readable. However, I can see that the English title conveys different nuances than the German original (Aller Tage Abend). In particular, the word End seems much more final than Abend (literally evening).
I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has read this in German and would be able to comment on the translation, or any more general thoughts on the limitations or benefits of reading in translation.

[Britta]

Thats a great idea, Hugh! Translation issues are far too often neglected when discussing a book... And I am happy to contribute what I can to this thread. German is my mother tongue, so I will re-read the German version of Erpenbeck's book alongside with the English one.

And re the title: 'Aller Tage Abend' literally means 'the evenings of every day' but it is (almost) never used in the literal sense. It's an idiom meaning: all is lost.

[Hugh]

Thanks Britta, that would be very interesting

[Britta]

So far (book 1) the translation is quite good, there are very few (and rather minor) mistakes, e.g. 'verrecken' is translated as 'to die' (sterben), whereas it is a very harsh way to say: 'die a miserable death', the word is slang, so maybe rather 'to croak' / 'to snuff it' (?). One issue, though, I do have with the English version: Erpenbeck's style is very quiet and colloquial, it feels as if somebody is talking to you, telling you the story. I am not sure the English translation captures this. The language seems to me more formal and at times a bit stiff. But I would be interested whether English native speakers have the same experience.

[Hugh]

That is interesting - sometimes the translator can affect the nuances subconsciously, and colloquial idiom is notoriously difficult to translate.

[LindaJ^]

Britta wrote: "So far (book 1) the translation is quite good, there are very few (and rather minor) mistakes, e.g. 'verrecken' is translated as 'to die' (sterben), whereas it is a very harsh way to say: 'die a mi..."

Interesting. For me, this book was rather "formal." I certainly did not feel as if the author was talking to me. It felt much more distanced than that. Although, on reflection, the part where she rewrites her life history and the intermission where the various communists officials react to it, seemed a different style from the other parts and more informal.

[Lily]

Interesting observations, Britta--thanks for sharing!

Like Linda, I also find the book to feel more formal than as if the narrator is somebody talking to me and telling me the story. What a difference in the reading experience this could possibly make!