Yardenne Greenspan has an MFA in Fiction and Translation from Columbia University. In 2011, she received the American Literary Translators’ Association Fellowship. Her translation of Some Day, by Shemi Zarhin (New Vessel Press), was chosen for World Literature Today’s 2013 list of notable translations. Her full-length translations also include Tel Aviv Noir, edited by Etgar Keret and Assaf Gavron (Akashic Books), and Alexandrian Summer by Yitzhak Gormezano Goren (New Vessel Press). Yardenne’s writing and translations can be found in The New Yorker, Haaretz, Guernica, Ploughshares, The Massachusetts Review, and Words Without Borders, among other publications.
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Who are you and what do you translate?
My name is Yardenne Greenspan, I’m a writer of fiction and essays, a translator of Hebrew fiction, and an aspiring good friend. I mostly translate novels, but also short prose, plays, and even some poetry.
Describe your current/most recent project. Why is it cool? What should we know about it?
I just finished translating a biblical-fiction novel by Israeli author Yochi Brandes, which is forthcoming from St. Martin’s Press next summer. The novel offers a subversive reading of the biblical books of Kings and undermines what we know about Kings Saul, David, Solomon, and their families. It was especially exciting for me, having grown up in Israel, where Bible lessons are taught at every school, forming a very specific narrative of “good” and “wicked” kings. This books really turns it around.
What author would you like to see more popular/translated in the first place?
Sayed Kashua, a Palestinian citizen of Israel who currently lives and works in Illinois, writes in Hebrew about the experience of living on both sides, trying to pass as Israeli while remaining faithful to his Palestinian roots, and the entrapment that ensues. Sadly, Kashua recently decided his attempt to bridge the conflict through his writing has failed, but his writing still offers incredible insight into the complicated and heartbreaking way of living that is Israel. His books have been translated by Miriam Shlesinger and Mitch Ginsburg, and I think they should be read by anyone who is interested in a fresh take on the subject that is both touching and hilarious.
How did you know you would become a translator? How *did* you become a translator?
I grew up in Israel with bilingual parents and I always read books and watched movies and television in both languages. I often caught myself thinking in a mixture of both English and Hebrew. I always wrote and was always drawn to quiet, solitary activities. One day, I was sitting at a favorite coffee shop in Tel Aviv and a regular, this older man, came in and asked if anyone was a translator. I said yes. He gave me my first job, which I performed clumsily and with intense insecurity, but which still felt right. Then I found a job at a translation agency and took it from there. It always felt right, even when the work was technical and dull. A few years later, when I joined the translation program as part of Columbia University’s MFA in creative writing, I embarked on the journey of becoming a literary translator. Susan Bernofsky and Idra Novey were incredible mentors to me during this process. From the first moment, it was clear this was going to be a career.
What’s your pet peeve about the translation/literary industry?
How easy it can be at times, even for appreciative readers, authors, and publishers, to disregard the existence of translators. Many book reviews, literary events, and press releases would have you believe a book from a foreign author had just magically materialized in English. When this happens to me I work through it by reminding myself that my work still counts even if my honor is hurt, but I, and others, shouldn’t have to do that.
What are you reading right now?
I’m currently reading You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine, by rising star and fellow Columbia alumna Alexandra Kleeman. It’s an all-consuming novel about the body: what it looks like, feels like, and behaves like, in the most direct, fresh, and uncanny way imaginable. It’s really getting under my skin and I have trouble trying not to think about it all the time.
Where do you go for inspiration—translation, literary, or otherwise?
I love spotting instances when a translator—literary, cinematic, scientific, technical, or just a friend translating for a tourist—finds either just the right word to convey a translated message, or one that surprises me, that I never would have come up with, and which is now added to my translator’s toolkit as yet another option. As far as general inspiration goes, anything artistic can do it (and especially books, movies, and music), as well as travel—seeing how other people live, how they choose to present their homes and lives. Conversations with intelligent friends and family members are always some of the strongest emotional fodder. There hasn’t been a conversation with my father about his family where I haven’t thought, “Oh, damn, I guess I’m not finished writing about this after all.”
If you weren’t a translator, what would you be?
I’m a writer as well as a translator and I believe I’d still be doing that. For the sake of a steady income, I would most likely also be doing something else within the realm of literature—editing, teaching—though I also sometimes fantasize about acting or opening a bakery.
What language do you wish you could speak/read?
All of them, probably? I can speak a little bit of Spanish and even less French and would love to be closer to fluent in both. German and Russian are fascinating to me. But most of all, I’d love to be able to speak English in a bunch of different accents and regional slangs. To me, that’s also a form of translation.
What was your favorite book as a child?
I read Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, and Anne of the Island (all in Hebrew translation) obsessively, over and over. I must have read each of them about ten times. I feel quite lucky to have read about a woman who was wild, imaginative, and independent at such a young age. I also loved Jinji, a series by Israeli author Galila Ron-Feder about a redheaded kid who gets into all kinds of adventures. His character lived on the street in Jerusalem where my mother grew up, which added to the excitement.
What might readers be surprised to learn you loved—or hated?
I’m really into Stephen King, mostly his old stuff—the classic horror thrillers, like IT and Misery. I also love his memoir/advice book, On Writing. It can be a bit disheartening at times, because he’s so prolific it’s almost daunting, but his advice is solid and the insight offered into his own work is riveting. On the other hand, I couldn’t get through Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives, which many people I admire are crazy about. I gave it a lot of effort but I never reached the state of flow. I’m going to try again one day.
What advice do you have for aspiring translators?
Read and write as much as you can, especially in the languages you translate into. Listen to the way people talk, to the little nuances of language and tone. When editing a difficult passage, read it aloud. Send out your work to journals and publishers. Don’t be afraid to contact an author whose work you’d like to translate. You’d be surprised how much great and successful work hasn’t already been picked up, or how, sometimes, the least experienced translator can create the most vivid translation. It’s always good to give it a shot. Worst case scenario, they’ll enjoy the compliment.
What should every young translator be able to do?
I think it’s important for translators to be able to write—to have the vocabulary and expressive abilities used in writing. Fluency in the target language is crucial, though I believe, from my experience, that it is all right if that fluency continues to evolve throughout one’s career. The more a translator knows and understand the culture the original text is coming from (regardless of whether he or she is a native speaker of the original language), the more precise the translation will be, both in terms of factual accuracy and in terms of style and tone. I also think access to other translations is something every translator should be able to have.