October 5, 2010

the sin of omission

Some thoughts on translation by Lydia Davis:

The solution adopted by Constance Garnett, the prolific translator of Russian, to the word, phrase, or passage in the original that utterly confounded her: Leave it out.

(via marginal revolution)

posted by in books, history, how to, language, tips and tricks, translation | * | 1 comment 

comments

  1. Daryl Scroggins on October 5th, 2010 at 2:22 pm

    “Leave it out.” Thus have I translated everything.

    P.S. I love Lydia Davis’s work and am looking forward to reading her translation of Madame Bovary.