Letter from the Editors
Does translating a text provide a mirror image of the original—even if that image is reversed or otherwise distorted—or does it mask the original behind the unfamiliar lexical and syntactical trappings of an alien language? Like any metaphor for translation, the mirror and the mask are both inadequate to capture the nuances of the process, yet both also point toward provocative discussions of the role of translation and its effects on a text. Do different layers of language and culture inform a translation and become reflected in it, or are they obscured? While as translators we aspire to overcoming mutual incomprehension, the study of translation is also inevitably a study of what is missing, of what has not been communicated, or of what has been communicated instead.
For this issue of eXchanges, we found ourselves pondering these contradictory—or complementary?—roles. While the translated and original texts mirror each other on the page, the different scripts highlight the distance that can yawn between two texts. Amish Trivedi translated from Bulgarian, a language he does not speak, as did Thomas Fox Parry from Arabic. Tarek Eltayeb, the poet Parry translated, was born in Cairo and is of Sudanese origin, but has lived in Austria for years. Gary Gluck has translated an excerpt from a novel by Pierre Bergounioux, which offers a French reflection of the American experience in World War II. Julien Friedler, translated from the French by Barbara Harshav, sets the Holocaust before a funhouse mirror, while Murathan Mungan’s protagonist, translated from the Turkish by Aron Aji, finds her own life reflected in another’s.
We are so pleased to be able to include these wonderful translations in our final issue as editors for eXchanges, and also to introduce what we hope will be a dynamic and engaging feature in future issues: an interview with a translator on the art and craft of literary translation. In this issue, Becka Mara McKay, translator from Hebrew, offers some insight into her own translation experience. We are excited to see the new direction that next year’s editors, Sara Gilmore and Mike Schorsch, both of them astute translators and readers, will take eXchanges in the issues to come.
Andrea Rosenberg
Mary Bryant
Iowa City, June 2009