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2022-06-15 15:43:03

The Observer Translation ProjectEnglishDeutschEspañolFrançaisNederlandsItalianoPolskiGuest languages BalgarskiSrpskiRuskiiMagyarEllenikaHrvatskiHomeAbout usNewsLinksArchiveAuthorsCriticsTranslatorsFeedbackMircea Cărtărescu's "Why We Love Women" Just Out in RomeDate: August 11, 2009Mircea Cărtărescu pays homage to women—respectable ladies and sex bombs, girls of fifteen or fifteen billion, women who sleep with their eyes open and women who appear in your dreams simply “because they are women, because they are not men.” When the book comes out in English—and ...read more...Check out the latest events in the cultural agendaMircea Cărtărescu's "Why We Love Women" Just Out in RomeAugust 11, 2009Mircea Cărtărescu pays homage to women—respectable ladies and sex bombs, girls of fifteen or fifteen billion, women who sleep with their eyes open and women who appear in your dreams simply “because they are women, because they are not men.” When the book comes out in English—and ...read more...Norman Manea Awarded Highest French HonorJuly 27, 2009The French government announced thisJuly that it has granted Norman Manea the title of Commandeurdans l'Ordre des Arts et Letters, the highest rank in the Legionof Honor, in recognition of "his great talent and open,vigilant and humanist body of work written without concession."read more...Summer Reading: Two Romanian Titles Make the BTB Vacation ListJuly 16, 2009Best Translated Book panelists(Monica Carter, Scott Esposito, Susan Harris, Annie Janusch, Brandon Kennedy,Bill Marx, Michael Orthofer , Chad W.Post, and Jeff Waxman) have been reading like wild in preparation for Best Translated Book awards,to be announced by Three Percent / Open Letter in ...read more...Gellu Naum Anthology Launched in VeniceJune 23, 2009On June 11, theRomanian Institute for Cultural and Humanistic Research (which islocated in Venice) launched a blockbuster bilingual anthology ofwriting by Gellu Naum, La quinta essenza / The Fifth Essence(Treviso: Editing Edizioni, 2006). The book includes a broadchronology of the great ...read more...European Success for Dan LunguJune 16, 2009Dan Lungu’s Baba Comunista / Sînto babă comunistă! /ЧЕРВЕНА БАБИЧКА СЪМ (Sofia:Faber Publishing, 2009;Iaşi:Polirom, 2007) will appear in Bulgaria this month. The Bulgarianedition follows publication in French, German, Italian and Hungarian.A Spanish edition is ...read more...read more...About this issue: SpecialThis July, The Observer Translation Project leaves its usual format to present a special CRISIS ISSUE. Things are tough all over. Hard Times suddenly feels like the book of the moment. The global economic crisis impacts life as we know it, and viewed from Bucharest the effects reverberate in domains that include geo-politics and publishing in Romania and abroad, with the crisis at The Observer Translation Project as an instance of a universal phenomenon.read more...The Wall in Our Head: Eastern Europe, Romania and the Identity Crisis, Twenty Years AfterAlthough Romanians view the last twenty years with a degree of burned out idealism that verges on jaundice (doubtless to the surprise of many Americans), this is the year to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall and the mockery of human rights for which it stood. In June, the Guardian posted Stories from Easter Europe, a collection that included “Zgaiba” by Romanian novelist, Stelian Tănase.read more...Translator's ChoiceAuthor: Stelian TănaseTranslated by: Jean HarrisFrom Maestro: A Melodrama. Episode 7Emiluţa has an unfortunate thought. She’ll throw herselfoff the top of the building. Why? What the fuck? Let’s say for the cause ofPeaceonEarth, for the slumdogs,Europe, forthe lonely. Which is to say she doesn’t have a ghost of a reason. VivaWalachia!The way things stand, if ...Translator’s NoteTranslator’s Note: a synopsisAuthor: Ştefan AgopianTranslated by: Ileana OrlichHow I Learned to Read (from Tache de Catifea / The Velvet Man)The bearded man was the owner of an apothecary shop where he worked with two apprentices. Nobody paid me any mind, so I spent all day in what was supposed to be the shop. I say this because it was a large, dark room full of odors—a mix of smells from everywhere. The room hadn’t been cleaned ...Translator’s NoteRe: Learning to Read, from Tache de catifea / The Velvet ManAuthor: Gabriela AdameşteanuTranslated by: Patrick CamillerWasted Morning - Napoleon in Bucharest“What you’ve got here is heaven on earth,” Vica says as she drops onto the kitchen chair. “But where’s your mother?”“At work,” Gelu lazily replies, leaning sideways against the door. “She’s doing mornings this week, didn’t you know?”He is tall and thin, with unset ...Author: Petre IspirescuTranslated by: Jean HarrisYouth Without Age and Life Without DeathIt happened once as never before-y, ‘cause if it couldn’t be true, it wouldn’t make a story about the time when the poplar tree made berries and the willow tree broke out in cherries, when bears began to brawl with their tails, and wolf and lamb, unfurling their sails, threw arms around each ...Translator’s NoteOn Petre IspirescuVisit the Translation Support Programs(Scroll down for english) of the Romanian Cultural InstituteOTP on Radio France International complete radio show Radio France InternationaleNo. 12, July 2009view archivePlanned events in Cultural Agenda see All Planned Events17 DecemberTardes de Cinema Romeno14 DecemberOmaggio a Gheorghe Dinica Proiezione del film "Filantropica" (regia Nae Caranfil, 2002)12 DecemberÅrets Nobelpristagare i litteratur Herta Müller gästar Dramaten 10 DecemberRomanian Festival @ Peninsula Arts - University of Plymouth10 DecemberLesung und Gespräch mit Ioana NicolaieNotes &CommentsOctober 03, 2014From eXchanges blogIt took me a while to find time to read the whole thing, but the roundtable discussion that went up a week ago over at the Observer Translation Project is really excellent. Susan Harris (of Words Without Borders), Chad Post (of Open Letter and Three Percent),novelist Norman Manea, and translator Susan Bernofsky offer thoughtfulexchanges on topics such as marketing and editing translatedliterature, team translations, issues of domestication in translation,and the appeal and value of international literature. For example,here’s Susan Bernofsky on editing translations:The same editing skills that apply to the best editorsof English apply to the best editors of literature translated intoEnglish as well. Great editors have a sixth sense that tells themexactly what a book’s style wants to be and shows them the spots whereit diverges from this ideal. If there’s an outright mistake in thetranslation, an editor may or may not be able to spot it (depending onwhether it breaks the skin of the book’s mood) – but that’s not theeditor’s job, that’s the job of the translator.The whole thing is highly recommended.http://exchangesjournal.wordpress.com/August 09, 2009From Salonica World Lit The ObserverTranslation Project is... a great place to get your bearings about Romanian literature, old andnew. I love this site because it's like a lit journal and a historylesson filled with well-thought out lit crit and incisive commentary. Digit, friends.July 07, 2009From PEN America The translators’ roundtable over at The Observer Translation Project has been fairly widely noted; also worth reading there is the “Letter from Chişinău,” by Moldovan journalist Leo Butnaru, about the relationship between literature and politics -- and, more specifically, the current political situation in Moldova.http://penamerica.blogspot.com/2009/07/iran-reading-this-saturady-links.htmlJuly 05, 2009From signandsight What's worse than Western capitalism? Capitalism that hides behind a hammer and a sickle. Moldovan journalist and translator Leo Butnaru sends a caustic letter from Moldova,where the April 7 elections were followed by heavy protests against theCommunist election victory. Butnaru explains how the elections weremanipulated – a large percent of Moldavians working abroad wereprevented from voting – and the perverse nature of the regime: "We'redealing here with a mutant that is hard to describe. Thisfabulous mongrel, communo-capitalism looks exceptionally repulsive inthe fun house mirrors of mysteriously still ongoing, retarded bolshevism,with which European autocracy and diplomacy nevertheless go onflirting. I would very much like to know, for instance, why last Marchhis Excellency, the former British ambassador to Chisinau, John Beyer, allowed himself to be decoratedby tovarish Voronin, a dictator, a hypocrite, a show-off, a scoffer atthe idea of Europe - an inveterate bolshevik, pure and simple, whobenefits from 'multilaterally-developed' capitalism - to borrow aphrase from the old Party manuals." Beyer is not the onlypolitician whom Butanaru names: his list of foreign dignitaries queuingup to be decorated also includes FIFA president Sepp Blater, Secretary General of the European Council Terry Davis, Austrian EU politician Erhard Busek, Bulgaria's president Gheorghi Pirvanov and the Croatian president Stjepan Mesic.And the USA-based Romanian writer Norman Manea, Susan Harris from "words without borders" the American translator Susan Bernofsky and the publisher Chad Post discuss the market for literary translations and translation itself. http://www.signandsight.com/features/1894.html#cultJuly 05, 2009From perlentaucher Was ist noch schlimmer als westlicher Kapitalismus? Ein Kapitalismus, der sich hinter Hammer und Sichel verbirgt. Der moldawische Journalist und Übersetzer Leo Butnaru schickt einen gepfefferten Brief aus Chisinau, der Hauptstadt Moldawiens, wo es nach den Wahlen am 7. April zu schweren Protestengegen den Wahlsieg der Kommunisten kam. Butnaru erklärt, wie die Wahlenmanipuliert wurden - einem Großteil der im Ausland arbeitendenMoldawier wurde es unmöglich gemacht zu wählen - und um welche Art vonRegime es sich in Moldawien handelt: "Wir haben es hier mit einem Mutanten zu tun, der schwer zu beschreiben ist. Dieser märchenhafte Bastard,Kommuno-Kapitalismus, sieht besonders abstoßend aus im Spiegelkabinetteines mysteriöserweise weiterbestehenden, zurückgebliebenen Bolschewismus,mit dem die europäische Autokratie und Diplomatie weiterhin flirtet.Ich wüsste zum Beispiel sehr gern, warum letzten März seine Exzellenz,der frühere britische Botschafter in Chisinau, John Beyer, sich von Towarischtsch Voronin dekorieren ließ,von einem Diktator, Heuchler, Angeber und Verächter der europäischenIdee, einem eingefleischten Bolschewiken durch und durch, der vom'multilateral entwickelten' Kapitalismus profitiert - um eine Phraseaus den alten Parteiprogrammen zu benutzen."Beyer ist nicht der einzige, den Butnaru aufzählt: auch der Schweizer Sepp Blatter, Präsident der FIFA, Terry Davis, Generalsekretär des Europarats, der österreichische EU-Politiker Erhard Busek,Bulgariens Präsident Gheorghi Pirvanov und der kroatische PräsidentStjepan Mesic ließen sich Orden an die Brust heften. (Mehr über dieWahlen in der NZZ.)Außerdem: Der in den USA lebende rumänische Schriftsteller Norman Manea, Susan Harris von "words without borders", die amerikanische Übersetzerin Susan Bernofsky und der Verleger Chad Post unterhalten sich über den Markt für Übersetzungen von Literatur und das Übersetzen an und für sich. http://www.perlentaucher.de/magazinrundschau/2009-07-07.html#a24511 July 01, 2009From Words Without BordersThe Observer Translation Project just posted a roundtable discussion on our favorite topic, including our very own Susan Harris along with Chad Post of the Three Percent blog and Open Letter publishers, as well as translator Susan Bernofsky whose translation of Yoko Tawada’s The Naked Eye I just read (and will soon comment on).Here’s an excerpt with Chad honing in on an aspect of reading books in translation that many of us face:This sounds really bad, but in a roundabout way, I'mmotivated by my monolingualism. After college I fell in love with LatinAmerican literature—especially Cortazar—and started trying to revive mySpanish so that I could read the dozens of books I'd heard about, butwhich had yet to be translated. By the time I got serious about thisthough, I was off and reading a ton of French Oulipo books. Then titlesfrom Eastern Europe. I'll never be able to speak a dozen languages(like translator Michael Henry Heim does), so I have to rely on Englishpublishers to make available all the great books being written aroundthe world. Probably just an ADD thing, but by not specializing in onelanguage/literature, I feel like I can indulge my roaming interests,and look for books to publish from Asia, then Latin America, thenFrance, then the Nordic Countries, etc., etc.Read the rest at The Observer Translation Projecthttp://www.wordswithoutborders.org/?post=ObserverTranslationProjectRoundtableJuly 01, 2009From Three PercentThe Observer Translation Project, which we’ve mentioned here before, posted a really cool translation roundtable/interview that they conducted recently:World-famousnovelist Norman Manea, two premier experts in the realm of literaturein translation—Susan Harris of Words Without Borders and Chad Post ofThree Percent and Open Letter—and award-winning translator from GermanSusan Bernofsky address a literary zone in permanent crisis: the worldof literature in translation.They manage tocover a lot of ground pretty quickly—from editing translations, to themarket for translations, to why the panelists read translations—andit’s interesting to see how they approach all of the issues fromslightly different angles. Definitely worth a read.http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/?s=tag&t=susan-harrisJune 18, 2009From three percentThe latest entry in The Guardian‘s series ofshort stories about the transformations of Eastern Europe post-1989 is StelianTanase’s Zgaiba,translated from the Romanian by Jean Harris. (Who runs the Observer TranslationProject, which is the best source online for information about Romanianliterature.)… this is probably my favorite story in TheGuardian series.http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.phpJune 01, 2009From signandsightAl Ahram Weekly | OutlookIndia| Observator Cultural |London Review of Books | Polityka | Le Nouvel Observateur | The Economist | Clarin | Elet es Irodalom | NZZ Folio | The Guardian"The basic question for foreigners in Romania," writes Jean Harris, who runs the Translation Project for the Observator Cultural, " is 'what the hell are you doing here?' That's the existential question, and the sine qua non of successful Romanian-nessinvolves addressing it to one's self six times a day." The only escape,she suggests, is a healthy sense of the absurd and warm friendships.And with that she introduces Razvan Petrescu, the focus of this month's issue. Here's an extract from his short story "On a Friday Afternoon": "Dadwent and died. He was a quiet guy, slightly on the mystic side, withtwo deep furrows on either side of his nose. He was given to occasionalbouts of melancholy, and on Sundays he’d do funny stuff over lunch.He'd toss the soup spoon towards the light fixture hanging fromthe ceiling, then try to catch it. He always failed. Sometimes he'dbreak the fixture, sometimes – the soup plate. The fat yellow soupwould soak progressively into the table cloth first, then into Dad'sneatly-pressed trousers, and finally make its way down to the Persianrug, where it became extremely visible and stable. I was in stitches.Not Mom, though. I'm still in stitches now as I look at the Order of Socialist Labor Class IIIawarded to Dad back in '68 or so. It's a rather nice box, dark cherryin color, soft to the touch, containing a silver medal, a red ribbonand Dad. The medal represents our country's insignia on a bed ofsunbeams."April 21, 2009From signandsight ObservatorCultural throwsa spotlight on Norman Manea, awriter Orhan Pamuk described as "one of the great men of Romania ".The site's Translation Projectfeatures a number of synopses of his works, an illustrated bibliography and a translation of Manea's "Sentimental Education","a charming, sexy, wistful and ferocioustake on Flaubert's novelof the same name…”http://www.signandsight.com April 14, 2009Weekly News Post by DavidVarno14 April 2009Romanian author Norman Manea won the third Observator CulturalOpera Omnia Award this month from the ObserverTranslation Project, an international magazine of Romanianliterature in translation. See Totalitarianism Today for anin-depth history of Manea and study of his work. Manea was a guesteditor for WWB in 2004, and we also published his “Letterto Ernesto Sábato,” translated from the Romanian by StephenKessler and Daniela Hurezanu.April 14, 2009HonoringRomanian writer Norman Manea. The ObserverTranslation Projectis devoting this month to the work of Romanian writer Norman Manea,who recently won the 2009 Gheorghe Crăciun Lifetime AchievementAward. Critic Carmen Musat describes Manea's work: Awitness to the paired totalitarianisms of the 20th century, NormanManea is a writer of survivals. His medium is Romanian. He belongs tothe world. (....) Amongother precious stones, Jean Harris translates "SentimentalEducation",a short by Manea.April 07, 2009From Alina Stefanescu’s Romania RevealedForgetthe fact that I am a globalized mutt who has developed an intense mistrust ofany kennel-- American or Romanian-- and prefers to live in cars where thewindows are open. Forget my own misgivings about nationalism, patriotism,self-esteem, and resume voyeurism. Forget everything I've ever said or suggetedabout politics and conspiracy and other forms of failed literature. For thereis hope and excitement on the Romanian horizon. The Observer Translation Projectlanguage barrier by providing translations of previouslyuntranslated fictional gems. For those who long enchanted by the misgivings ofthe Romanian pen, this project is an oasis.aims to bridge the ARomanian writer is highlighted in every issue, thus opening the doors ofcross-cultural discourse for the discovery of relics and treasures. Apart fromtranslating novels, stories, and essays, the Project includes critical essaysand translation notes.Dip into pathologicalmemory and the nostalgia of the return, the exile's tattoo, the dissident'sfavorite pair of blue jeans, the stoicismof Soviet toilets, Napoleonin Bucharest, the social stasis facilitated by intellectualsglorifying the ditch as the best abode, tokenimmortalities, the heady drum-beat of awasted morning, dinnerswith the devil or the pope, thedin inside the artist's head, the cosmic significance of darkbodies, and so much more.From http://alina_stefanescu.typepad.com/romania_revealed/articles/ April 06, 2009Norman Manea focusThe impressive Romanian The Observer Translation Project isdevoted to Norman Manea this month. (Posted by: M.A. Orthofer) – permanent link – Posted April 6, 2009March 12, 2009From Bacacay, the Polish Literature WeblogLo! Just look at this website: http://translations.observatorcultural.ro.It’s enough to make a literary programmer for some other former Eastern Bloc cultural institution green with envy…http://bacacay.wordpress.comMarch 10, 2009 From three percentObserver TranslationProject9 March 09 |Chad W. Post |The Observer Translation Project is a relatively new website featuring news, reviews, and samples from and about Romanian authors…. there’s a healthy amount of information available on this site, including samples from a host of authors, a list of forthcoming translations from the Romanian, synopses of a number of Romanian books, and reviews/essays.Definitely worth checking out, both for the features… and for the blog, which tracks information about Romanian literature. http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/March 04, 2009A Grand Translation Workshop! Romanian Literature on the March!http://www.translations.observatorcultural.ro/Co-ordinated by American novelist Jean Harris, this is a magnificentmulti-lingual project of translating contemporary Romanian literatureinto several languages.(From Exquisite Corpse: http://www.corpse.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=357&Itemid=39) March 02, 2009Signandsight Reads OTP in its Magazine RoundupThe novels and short stories of writer Stefan Agopian mark an important point in the emancipation of Romanian literature...An English excerpt from Agopian's "The Geographer's Tales" can be found here. http://www.signandsight.com/features/1835.html#ocFebruary 17, 2009From Radio France International A limited team is about to trigger a genuine revolution in the Romanian literary landscape. Their “weapons” are their translators and the internet. Last September, four journalists on the staff of the Observator Cultural weekly created The Observer Translation Project site to promote contemporary Romanian authors abroad. With the help of ten translators, fragments from Romanian literary works are published in [multiple]… languages. This ambitious project receives financial support from the weekly Observator Cultural… the credit goes… to the extremely motivated people creating the site. The number of visitors is constantly growing and frequently enough fragments from the translated literary works feature on some of the most important literary sites in Europe and theUnited States. (From Radio France International:http://www.rfi.fr/radiofr/editions/072/edition_3_20090211.asp )December 22, 2008THE OBSERVER TRANSLATION PROJECT Now in its fifth issue, this online international magazine features Romanian writing in translation. The site's literary pieces translate into English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Polish, with some guest languages. The director of the Project, Jean Harris, received a 2007-08 ICWT Translation Grant in support of her work on the selection from “The Boars Were Mild”/ Mistreţii erau blânzi from Iarna Bărbaţilor / Men in Winter by Ştefan Bănulescu, that opened the first issue of The Observer Translation Project.(From Here to There: http://www.humanities.uci.edu/icwt/fromheretothere/Fall08/readinglist.html)October 16, 2008Magazine Roundup from signandsight.com A while back we linked to an article about the fantastic translation project by the Romanian cultural journal Observator Cultural. But things have developed in leaps and bounds since then, with translations in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, Dutch and Polish. The first edition was dedicated to the writer Stefan Banulescu, the second to Gheorghe Craciun – featuring an excerpt from Craciun's novel "Pupa Russa" and an essay by Caius Dobrescu which presents Craciun as "a Bertrand Russell with a Wagnerian twist"This, the third edition, is dedicated to the author Stelian Tanase. There are a few things which a "prospective reader of Romanian literature might like to know" writes the translator, writer and head of the translation project, Jean Harris, by way of an introduction. For example, that in Romania, "we're in a world capital of stories because we're in the world capital of regime change". Before moving on to Stelian Tanase, she provides a brief overview of Romanian history and the fundamentals of Romanian literature: "In the long view, what counts is that the Romanian problem has been 'how to survive.' Often it has been, 'how not to die.' And often it has been 'how to die' – finding a spiritual position that makes death a friend. In this context, story telling equals salvation on several planes." In Tanase's case this mindset is fuelled by the Blues.Further articles include a synopsis of Tanase's novel "Dark Bodies" and an excerpt.(From signandsight.com: http://www.signandsight.com/features/1778.html)September 20, 2008From Conversational Reading The Observer Translation Project[l]ooks like a promising source for reading works-in-translation on the Web.(From Conversational Reading: http://www.conversationalreading.com/links/index.html)September 09, 2008Reading Is Sexier in Bucharest In related Romanian-literature-in-translation news, the Observer Translation Project is up and running, featuring previously untranslated Romanian fiction (now translated into En/Fr/Ge/It/Sp/Du/Pol) as well as critical essays (En) on the featured writers and on contemporary Romanian lit in general. The first two numbers have been dedicated to Stefan Bănulescu and Gheorghe Crăciun, respectively. I strongly recommend the excerpt from Crăciun’s Pupa Russa for a lovely account of going to school and learning to read in the People’s Republic of Romania. Kudos to the translator!(From reading is sexier in bucharest: http://readinginbucharest.wordpress.com/)September 05, 2008From the Complete Review The Observer Translation Project, "an international magazine of Romanian writing in translation" has now well and truly been launched. As they explain:OTP showcases previously untranslated fiction. We highlight a "pilot" author each month. This is the place to learn about Romanian writers, find updates on Romanian writing abroad, read CV’s, take a look at covers published in countries around the globe, check out the bibliographies, dip into author photos, search our steadily growing archive, and discover essays that put Romanian writing in context. Look for single author fiction issues every month, with free-wheeling updates in between. Sounds very promising -- and we hope that other nations have a go at their own versions. (From the Complete Review: http://www.complete-review.com/saloon/index.htm)read more...Our PartnersThe Observer Translation ProjectContactCopyright © 2008 Observator Cultural