"Translators Struggle to Prove Their Academic Bona Fides"

[Robert Chandler]

I had meant to reply to the following point too:
'He adds a qualifier that goes beyond institutional pragmatism: "Although I
think translation is important and valid, it's worth noting that translation
can take people away from criticism and theoretical thinking of an original
sort. My chair was also telling me, Finish the book, don't lose sight of
that." When you're translating, you already have a text to work with,
"whereas writing your own book can often be more taxing, since you don't
know where it needs to go." '

This assumption is seriously mistaken.  One does not always know where a
translation NEEDS TO GO!  I certainly felt very lost indeed when I was first
struggling, on my own and many years ago, to translate Platonov.

R.






> Lynn Visson has sent me a link to an article in The Chronicle of Higher
> Education which I feel would be of interest to a much wider readership:
> 
> http://chronicle.com/article/Translators-Struggle-to-Prove/63542/
> 
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