“So many people consider their work a daily punishment. Whereas I love my work as a translator. Translation is a journey over a sea from one shore to the other. Sometimes I think of myself as a smuggler: I cross the frontier of language with my booty of words, ideas, images, and metaphors.” - Amara Lakhous
This quote we analyzed in class interested me as Amara Lakhous thinks of himself as a smuggler who crosses borders with ideas of another culture and presents it using his grasp of language and literature. As a translator it is important that Lakhous knows how to translate everything from one language to something meaningful in the other.
As we read Lost in Translation, the relevant themes of the text made direct connections with Part 3 of the language and literature course. Lost in translation is an article about Feng Tang, a popular but controversial writer in China who decided to publish his translation of 'Stray Birds', a collection of 300-odd short verses penned by Rabindranath Tagore in 1916. It was soon taken of the shelves as 3 out of the 326 poems which were translated were apparently vulgar and sexualized the 'poet-sage' figure of Tagore. Feng's 'vulgarity' divided the literary world of China. Earlier in the 1920's , a revered writer named Zheng Zhenduo translated Tagore's poems in a way that was acceptable by Chinese cultural standards and could be taught to children at school. This is a classic example of the changing cultural, historical and social context in which texts are written and received. The social context that Feng is struggling with is the split between the older generation of scholars and his generation on this issue. China's older generation much like India's older generation were conservative. However, the new generation of youngsters are not and this creates conflicting ideologies and perspectives.
Some of the benefits of translating literature is that we get an idea of another culture as literature expresses the culture of its origin. These ideas get spread this way and therefore accentuate globalization. The disadvantages are that some of these ideas maybe lost in translation and it can be dependent on the perspective of the person translating it as we can see in the example of Feng Tang's controversial issue.....
The comprehensive, albeit brief, mention of the Indian late generation is interesting. I believe the same is true in america but would like to know more of the issue in India. But you do fail to mention your standpoint on Feng Tang translation of Stray Bird. I am curious weather you are a more conservative or progressive scholar.
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