Celebrate Asymptote's 5th Anniversary in New York
New York City - Mar 3, 2016
featuring Ann Goldstein, Natasha Wimmer, and Frederic Tuten. View photos and check out the podcast here.
Summary
On March 3, we were thrilled to return to The New School’s beautiful Auditorium in New York for our fifth anniversary celebration. This year, more than 160 readers came out to hear a conversation by two of literary translation’s current superstars, Natasha Wimmer and Ann Goldstein, moderated by cult author Frederic Tuten.
Our India Editor-at-Large, Poorna Swami, began by introducing Asymptote, for those in the audience not familiar with our content and mission. Poorna stated, on behalf of everyone at Asymptote, that, “we see literary change as a necessary way to spark political and aesthetic conversations,” continuing:
Literature, because it is both immediate and pondered, offers unique insights into the imaginations of both a lone writer, and an entire people. Asymptote’s dedication to not just literature but myriad literatures invites a wider and deeper understanding of histories, politics, and peoples as they emerge and evolve.
Appealing to the intimate elements of literature, Poorna commented, “translation is an emotional act: sensory, cognitive, elusive”—one that exists in our hearts as well as our minds. She closed her introduction with a call to arms for continued support for the journal, as well as an invitation to join the team!
Poorna welcomed our esteemed guests to the stage, introducing each with a biography of their many achievements and accolades. In addition to various other projects and professions, both spent ten years translating one writer—for Wimmer it was Roberto Bolaño, and Goldstein has worked on Elena Ferrante’s novels for a decade now.
Wimmer opened proceedings, reading from her most recent translation project, Alvaro Enrigue’s Sudden Death, which was published in February. In the chapter, titled ‘The ball on the right is the holy father,’ Juana Cortés, the daughter of conquistador Hernan Cortés, remembers the man, the myth and the legend that was her father. Goldstein followed with an extract from Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend, the first in her bestselling tetralogy.
To begin the discussion, host Frederic Tuten commented, “how pleased I am that translation has come to the fore thanks to these two wonderful people”. He started by asking the two how they got into the “racket” of translating. Both Wimmer and Goldstein began in publishing (Wimmer at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Goldstein at the New Yorker, where she is an editor) and came to be translators, in the words of Wimmer, “nepotistically and unfairly”—although that is hard to believe!
They went on to discuss what made them want to become translators—interestingly, Goldstein commented that she didn’t think people should become translators, but that she enjoyed the work nevertheless. On a related note, Tuten asked, “can you make a living translating?” to which Goldstein replied, “best question, shortest answer”—no. Neither were shy about the fact that translation work is tough, sometimes thankless, and not extremely well paid, and it was clear that what drove their translation work, at a fundamental level, was the desire to have certain authors read in the English speaking world.
Goldstein and Wimmer then spoke about their personal approaches to translation. Wimmer commented, “speed is important,” which is unsurprising considering some of the titles she’s worked on—Bolano’s The Savage Detectives and2666 both number over 600 pages. She also referred to translation as a “mysterious process;” capturing the cadence and pacing of a text in order for the reader to “lose themselves” in the English. Interestingly, Goldstein revealed that she often does not read the books before she takes them on as translation projects, mainly due to deadlines—in the case of Ferrante, she had to wait for the books to be written before she could even begin.
Tuten concluded by asking a practical question—whether Wimmer and Goldstein received royalties for their work. While both answered in the affirmative, and clearly believed such recognition to be important, they commented that their recompense transcended the financial. Goldstein referred to her translation practice as “constantly fascinating,” feeling a “moral obligation” to bring a writer to a broader readership. In the same vein, Wimmer expressed her desire to be “associated with great works and great words,” as well as a love for “grappling” with language.
With his own questions satisfied, Tuten opened up discussion to the audience. One attendee asked about the challenges of translating humor, to which Wimmer replied that humor caused “lots of problems,” but that translators “love puns”. Goldstein pointed out that many things are “humorous in one language but not in another,” citing the cultural differences in humor as an obstacle to translators.
One particularly interesting question from the audience was whether either translator added explanations in their translations, if a word, concept, or object in the text was alien to the intended readership. Goldstein commented that she often added just a word or phrase in exposition, to which Natasha Wimmer agreed, citing Susan Bernofsky’s term the “stealth gloss”—an additional word somewhere in the text that explains something that is not clearly stated in the original.
Both team members and our guests were delighted by the excellent turn out, with the presence of many Asymptote supporters, both old and new, adding to the wonderful atmosphere of the evening. It was truly a treat to host two of the translation scene’s hardest workers and biggest stars on the same night, and we hope that everyone in attendance enjoyed this special experience as much as we did.
—Rosie Clarke
Photos
