We Have Moved

Lost Without Translation

For the past few summers, the literary world appears to have been seized by a storm: literature translated from different languages. This summer’s huge hit was a Swedish thriller called The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, the third in author Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, and the result was readers coming in by the droves seeking more books of a similar nature. The New York Times even commented on this new phenomenon, for famous Scandinavian bestsellers are only just now being translated into English because of the Millennium trilogy’s success.

For every success, though, there are thousands more of books in every language that lay untranslated. Three Percent, a website founded three summers ago, was named thusly because only about 3% of all books published in the United States are translated ones – and only 0.7% are poetry and literary fiction.

Also in 2007, Yale first launched The Margellos World Republic of Letters series, which translates previously overlooked works from cultures worldwide into English. There are many excellent books in this series, such as poetry from Italy and Syria, novels from Croatia and China – the list goes on.

Since the current fascination for translated literature leans towards the Scandinavian, readers should know that Swedish authors have more than just crime and mystery novels to offer. Göran Sonnevi’s book of poems, Mozart’s Third Brain, is a collection of his thoughts and surroundings, which are masterfully woven together in a way that makes them come to life with loose, fracture and radiating intensity. 

Sonnevi was winner of the 2006 Nordic Council’s Literature prize, and Mozart’s Third Brain, his thirteenth work of poetry, is beautifully rendered in English by award-winning translator Rika Lesser. From politics and current events to mathematics, philosophy, love, ethics and nature, there is little Sonnevi does not address in his long-form poem.

It may seem that we have reached new heights in translating literature, but the storm is still far from reaching its peak. As Edith Grossman, author of Why Translation Matters, puts so aptly, “Translation always helps us to know, to see from a different angle, to attribute new value to what once may have been unfamiliar,” we hope that literature in translation is a trend that stays.

 

What would Victor Hugo do?

The following guest post was written by Marva Barnett, author of Victor Hugo on Things That Matter:

What is just and what is legal are all too often not the same thing. Nina Totenberg’s recounting of the current Supreme Court case about prosecutorial immunity illuminates what Victor Hugo called “the quarrel between rights and law.” Not until that quarrel is resolved, he wrote in the preface to a collection of his socially-conscious speeches, will society reach true civilization.

In this case, attorneys for the Council Bluffs, Iowa, prosecutors argue explicitly, bluntly, that Americans have no constitutional right not to be framed for a crime they didn’t commit. Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee were imprisoned in 1977 for a murder they had no hand in. Tenaciously stating his innocence, Mr. Harrington was finally released in 2003 after a case review in which eyewitnesses recanted their testimony. Under Iowa law, neither man has legal recourse to receive compensation for the 25 years lost because of fabricated evidence. Their suit against the Council Bluffs police and prosecutor for violating of constitutional rights has reached the Supreme Court. An objective case summary shows that the police and prosecutor ignored evidence pointing to another, well-connected suspect and accepted testimony against Mr. Harrington from a man with a criminal record who erred in his story about the murder location and weapon involved.

Still, attorneys for the prosecutors, while hypothetically admitting that Mr. Harrington might have been framed, contend that such framing is legal, though perhaps not just. Victor Hugo must be raging in his Paris Pantheon tomb! Were he able to put pen to paper, he would this morning be dashing off a public letter. Justice is divine, he would write, far above the laws that people create. When everyone can see where justice lies in a cause, should we not choose what is just over what is legal? Why are laws not written to promote justice? Human rights come from God, and laws cannot morally overcome them. Jean Valjean, after 19 years at hard labor for stealing a loaf of bread, learned this from a man of God. The author of Les Misérables would be making the case for Mr. Harrington, human rights, and justice.

PRESS RELEASE: Yale University Press Receives Generous Gift

NEW HAVEN, CT—Yale University Press is pleased to announce that it is the recipient of a very significant gift from Cecile and Theodore Margellos for the establishment of an endowed fund to support a major new publishing series of foreign literatures in translation.  The series, to be called The Cecile and Theodore Margellos World Republic of Letters, will be dedicated to making literary works from around the globe available in English through translation.

The first books signed in the series include: Five Spice Street by Can Xue, one of the distinctive voices of contemporary Chinese fiction; The Selected Poems of Umberto Saba, a new verse translation of the great Italian poet's work; The Selected Poems of Adonis, a generous roundup of poems by the great Syrian-born poet and essayist; and the selected poems of the Greek poet Kiki Dimoula. 

John Donatich, Director, Yale University Press, formally announced the gift and the establishment of the series today and said, "the great ambition of this series will allow Yale University Press to help reverse the trend against literary translations, that virtual censorship that further insulates our culture.  Personally, the program affords me and other editors in the Press the opportunity to fulfill a career dream as well as giving the Press at large another way to contribute to a world culture.” Cecile and Ted Margellos also shared their vision for the series, saying, "our strongest belief is that Babel was a blessing, since each and every language reveals another vision of our world's infinite reality.  Our dearest wish is, through great translation, to bring these visions together."

The Cecile and Theodore Margellos World Republic of Letter series will identify works of cultural and artistic significance previously overlooked by translators and publishers, canonical works of literature and philosophy needing new translations, as well as important contemporary authors whose work has not yet been translated into English. The series is designed to bring to the English-speaking world leading poets, novelists, essayists, philosophers, and playwrights from Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, to stimulate international discourse and creative exchange.

John Donatich, Director, and Jonathan Brent, Editorial Director and Publisher, Trade Books, Yale University Press, will serve as general editors of the series, and consulting editors will include Umberto Eco, Orhan Pamuk, Charles Simic, and Elie Wiesel, among others.  Publication of the books will begin in Yale University Press' centenary year, 2008. 

The Whitney Humanities Center at Yale will organize events that both promote individual volumes and showcase the series as a whole. Every year, the Whitney will host the author (when possible) and translator of a selected volume for a two-three day visit to Yale's campus, organize a bilingual reading from the new volume, a reception, encounters with the press, and a book signing.

Cecile and Theodore Margellos
Cecile Inglessis Margellos is a scholar, literary translator and critic.  Theodore Margellos is managing director and co-founder of the Ilta Group, a private equity firm. They are the parents of Iliodora Margellos, a member of the Yale College Class of 2006.

Click here for additional information about Yale University Press.

Languages of the World Unite

Just in time to coincide with the launch of the Bush Administration’s “Foreign Language Initiative,” Yale University Press has launched its new World Languages website. Unlike any other publisher, the Yale University Press language program publishes materials in both commonly taught and less commonly taught languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Kurdish, Farsi (Persian), and—upcoming in Fall 2006—Urdu.

Materials include beginning and intermediate texts and ancillaries, multimedia materials, and distance learning programs.

Visit the all new Yale World Languages website for more information.

World Language Textbooks from Yale University Press Speak to Bush Plans

The Bush Administration just announced a substantial increase in funding for the study of foreign languages critical to national security, including Arabic and Chinese. “Much of the money reportedly will go to the Pentagon, to beef up language training at military schools,” said Elaine Korry on NPR's Morning Edition, “but a big chunk of the funding should also flow to colleges and universities.”

As the demand for foreign language programs and instructors at universities becomes more important, so too will the demand for high quality foreign language texts and materials. Unlike any other publisher, the Yale University Press language program publishes materials in both commonly taught and less commonly taught languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Kurdish, Farsi (Persian), and—upcoming in Fall 2006—Urdu. Visit our World Languages site for more information.