Last week I focused on my Q & A for Salgado Maranhão's translator, Alexis Levitin. Levitin has translated twenty five books (mainly from Portuguese). He received his P.h.d in English from Columbia University and currently teaches Creative Writing, Poetry, Shakespeare and World Literature at Plattsburg University. Most recently, he translated the poetry collection, Blood of the Sun by Salgado Maranhão, from Portuguese, for Milkweed. Once I finalized my questions, Ethan Rutherford, Milkweed's marketing manager, put me directly in touch with Alexis Levitin. We haven't officially chosen a time for the interview yet, but I'm infinitely excited to pick the brain of a renowned translator. Once the interview is completed it will be featured on the Milkweed website.
Ethan asked me to revise my questions a bit after the first draft, focusing less on the poetry itself and more on the translation process. I asked about the contradictions and struggles that accompany literary translation, things I have often wondered about. I asked whether Levitin focused more often on translating verbatim or preserving the tone and style of the verse. I also asked what role he feels a translator should take; as an ambassador of someone's work or simply as an interpreter.
These questions are not only pertitent to Milkweed's publishing, but to my own interests. If I pursue my potential career as a translator my role and influence on how audiences read a certain writer's work is something that I would want to constantly question and explore. I expect to learn much from speaking with an expert like Levitin and I can't wait!
No comments:
Post a Comment