BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The great works of literature can be called more than a collection of masterfully crafted words. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is more than a rhythmic story about a dour prince. Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina is more than the well-written tale of a suicidal woman. Great writing can convey the culture, dreams, norms and challenges of a society, but making sure the message is clear can depend upon the right translation.
How can a reader find a “good” translation of literature? Several Illinois Wesleyan University faculty members recently weighed in on the subject of translations.
“Translation is a work of art,” said Marina Balina, the Isaac Funk Professor of Russian Studies. “It is more than choosing the right words. It’s an art form that definitely requires the soul of the artist.” Balina worked with Professor of English Emeritus James McGowan on the translations of poems by German poet Wolfgang Borchert. “Translation is like a sculpture, basically shaping up the material like it was clay, and then refining it,” agreed McGowan, who is known for his translations of the French poet Charles Baudelaire. “Just because the words are similar from one language to another, it does not mean the meaning is similar.”
The art of translation may begin with finding the English equivalent, but it then requires going a step beyond, said Balina. “You can build from a beautiful sentence that is close to what the writer is saying, but the cultural barrier remains,” she said. “A translator can be blinded by his or her own knowledge of literature and culture.” Balina remembered reading sonnets of Shakespeare in English for the first time. “I thought, ‘This was not the Shakespeare I have read in Russian translation’,” she said. “I read writers in Soviet Russia, who were translating because they could not get their own work published because of the harsh censorship by government. They have used the art of translation to convey their own frustration and ideals through Shakespeare’s works.”