Literary Translation: A Practical Guide (Topics in Translation, 22) [Paperback]

Clifford E. Landers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 28, 2001 | ISBN-10: 1853595195 | ISBN-13: 978-1853595196

In this book, both beginning and experienced translators will find pragmatic techniques for dealing with problems of literary translation, whatever the original language. Certain challenges and certain themes recur in translation, whatever the language pair. This guide proposes to help the translator navigate through them. The book's hands-on approach should make it accessible to translators of any background. A significant portion of this "Practical Guide" is devoted to the question of how to go about finding an outlet for one's translations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Mr Landers, a prize winning translator of many books, confidently answers questions instinctive to translators in a personal and friendly tone that puts the reader at ease. This book serves as an excellent guideline for successful maneuvering while quenching my passion for literary translation.
Diane Teichman, inforMATIon, Issue 17, Summer 2008

No book exists that takes such a practical and comprehensive approach to the myriad issues faced by translators of literature, and in sharing his wisdom in such an accessible way, with Literary Translation: A Practical Guide, Cliff Landers has, in his own charming, humble way, made an enormous contribution to our craft.
Kirk Anderson, Welcome to TranslationZone.com!

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Language Notes

Text: English, Portugese --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 230 pages
• Publisher: Multilingual Matters (September 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1853595195
• ISBN-13: 978-1853595196
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,010,213 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A useful, readable manual for translators, April 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Literary Translation: A Practical Guide (Topics in Translation, 22) (Paperback)

The author's purpose, he says in the preface, is to provide guidelines to "work our way through, to use a Borgesian metaphor, the seemingly infinite labyrinth of forking paths" (read choices) in doing a literary translation. Additionally, his is "a practical, not a theoretical guide. While I have no quarrel with theorists, in theory at least, this is a get-your-hands-dirty, wrestle-with-reality type of book." Its content speaks to Landers's success in achieving his goal. He sets the brisk, colloquial, and often irreverent tone on the opening page, where he reproduces his translation of a "Night Drive," a chilling vignette by the noted Brazilian writer Rubem Fonseca. From there he deals, often episodically, with questions of technique such as: Getting started, stages of translation, fluency and transparency, adaptation vs. translation, tone, register, and other topics beginning and more experienced translators need to know. There are also items not to be found in more conventional texts: A day in the life of a literary translation, the hijacked author, when not to translate cultural cues, fiction and footnotes, pornography or "pornography?", English before there was English, and my favorite, "stalking the treacherous typo." In the book's less exciting but necessary final section, "The Working Translator," Landers deals with more mundane matters-e.g., translator's tools such as dictionaries and reference books, taxes, setting a fee, workspaces, contracts, and copyright. Several typographical errors (one of the most amusing is Stewart Potter for Potter Stewart) will hopefully be corrected in a future edition, and an index would have been useful. Still, this is the most up-to-date and readable of any work aiming at the would-be literary translator.