Depending on my mood I might tell you that Upton Sinclair, or John Steinbeck or Herman Hesse is my favorite author.
The thing is though I’ve told myself I am not allowed to read anymore Herman Hesse.
My father gave me my politics and fostered my love of reading. Before taking my sister (age 11) and I (age 13) to Thailand he gave us a reading list. On mine was Siddhartha, I loved it and subsequently devoured all my father’s old yellowed Hesse books. It was while in Mexico (when I had run away from everything) that I read Strange News from Another Star and Other Tales. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever read. If it was this beautiful in translation, what was it like in the original? All the nuances, all the ethos, the flow of the words in the original language, all of it lost in translation and yet this was still the most beautiful thing I had ever read. It was then I decided I would never read another Hesse book in translation. I would wait until I could read it in German. Which of course has never happened.
El Pocho Abogado asked:
Today when I caved I went and got the Neruda poems. I figured I can check the other books out from the library but I’ll need time to digest the Neruda. Any of you smarty pants latino lit people know who does the best translations with the translation on the facing page of the original?
I gave him both helpful and humble advice… “We smarty pants people don’t read him in translation”.
I am thinking of starting two new blogs one in German and one in Portuguese, in order to improve my language skills. If I do they will be at either my livejournal, xanga, friendster, blogspot or myspace blog.
I’ve though about that too, but since I’m only bilingual, I figured I’d rather read something than not just because it wasn’t in a language I could read.
It’s not that I can’t read the Spanish. I understand most of it, but what about when some abstract idea comes up in the poetry. B/c my Spanish isn’t so good I might misunderstand what the author intended. Say “fecundity” comes up. It’s a common theme in his poetry. It’s difficult for me to understand from the Spanish if he means polific in the sense of physical reproduction or intellectual growth. The translation helps me figure that stuff out.
Cindy,
I agree there are some things I’ve decided to go ahead and read because I know I’ll most likely never learn the original language.
Antonio (aka Pocho Abogado),
My comment was VERY arrogant. Translation and interpretation of works can be really helpful as you note. I particularly agree with you in terms of abstract ideas in poetry.
What’s with the chastity belt? Not arrogant, I agree with you. I would rather read “Es tan corto amor, y tan largo el olvido.” than it’s translation, but sometimes I need the translations. I am a Pocho afterall.
Antonio, when I try to read stuff like Neruda or GarcÃÂa Márquez in Spanish I tend to keep my Spanish-English dictionary by my side. I’ve learned new words that way.
Antonio,
You are my favorite Pocho in the whole wide world. The chastity belt? I saw the image at a website for chastity awareness week, right before I had registerd for my gravatar. I will change my gravatar soon. You should get a gravatar.
Yeah, it makes a funny juxtaposition, you with your chastity belt and Cindylu flashing the world with her smile and other attractions…