Sympathy for the Traitor

A Translation Manifesto

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  • An
  • engaging
  • and
  • unabashedly
  • opinionated
  • examination
  • of
  • what
  • translation
  • is
  • and
  • isn't.For
  • some,
  • translation
  • is
  • the
  • poor
  • cousin
  • of
  • literature,
  • a
  • necessary
  • evil
  • if
  • not
  • an
  • outright
  • travesty—summed
  • up
  • by
  • the
  • old
  • Italian
  • play
  • on
  • words,
  • traduttore,
  • traditore
  • (translator,
  • traitor).
  • For
  • others,
  • translation
  • is
  • the
  • royal
  • road
  • to
  • cross-cultural
  • understanding
  • and
  • literary
  • enrichment.
  • In
  • this
  • nuanced
  • and
  • provocative
  • study,
  • Mark
  • Polizzotti
  • attempts
  • to
  • reframe
  • the
  • debate
  • along
  • more
  • fruitful
  • lines.
  • Eschewing
  • both
  • these
  • easy
  • polarities
  • and
  • the
  • increasingly
  • abstract
  • discourse
  • of
  • translation
  • theory,
  • he
  • brings
  • the
  • main
  • questions
  • into
  • clearer
  • focus:
  • What
  • is
  • the
  • ultimate
  • goal
  • of
  • a
  • translation?
  • What
  • does
  • it
  • mean
  • to
  • label
  • a
  • rendering
  • “faithful”?
  • (Faithful
  • to
  • what?)
  • Is
  • something
  • inevitably
  • lost
  • in
  • translation,
  • and
  • can
  • something
  • also
  • be
  • gained?
  • Does
  • translation
  • matter,
  • and
  • if
  • so,
  • why?
  • Unashamedly
  • opinionated,
  • both
  • a
  • manual
  • and
  • a
  • manifesto,
  • his
  • book
  • invites
  • usto
  • sympathize
  • with
  • the
  • translator
  • not
  • as
  • a
  • “traitor”
  • but
  • as
  • the
  • author's
  • creative
  • partner.Polizzotti,
  • himself
  • a
  • translator
  • of
  • authors
  • from
  • Patrick
  • Modiano
  • to
  • Gustave
  • Flaubert,
  • explores
  • what
  • translation
  • is
  • and
  • what
  • it
  • isn't,
  • and
  • how
  • it
  • does
  • or
  • doesn't
  • work.
  • Translation,
  • he
  • writes,
  • “skirts
  • the
  • boundaries
  • between
  • art
  • and
  • craft,
  • originality
  • and
  • replication,
  • altruism
  • and
  • commerce,
  • genius
  • and
  • hack
  • work.”
  • In
  • Sympathy
  • for
  • the
  • Traitor,
  • he
  • shows
  • us
  • how
  • to
  • read
  • not
  • only
  • translations
  • but
  • also
  • the
  • act
  • of
  • translation
  • itself,
  • treating
  • it
  • not
  • as
  • a
  • problem
  • to
  • be
  • solved
  • but
  • as
  • an
  • achievement
  • to
  • be
  • celebrated—something,
  • as
  • Goethe
  • put
  • it,
  • “impossible,
  • necessary,
  • and important.”
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