Literary Translation

While few translators work with literary texts full time, literary translation is the mode with the most coverage in the media, making this work highly visible.

The translator must follow the author’s style, preserving the “essence” of the original work. Literary translation is halfway between conveying the original message and creating a new text, which means that the translator has to juggle between the literal meaning of the source and the style and poetic elements in the target language.

Literary translation is exceptionally complex because every language uses different expressions and grammatical structures, so it is not always possible to translate the original text literally. The translator often has to almost completely change a sentence or paragraph, so they are often considered a second author. The literary translator is responsible for striking a balance that allows the reader to enjoy a seamless translation while reflecting the character of the original book.

• How long has literary translation existed?

The Septuagint is the first significant translation in the western world. It is a collection of Jewish writings that were translated between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC.

Literary translators started to become more prominent in the 18th century, in the context of colonialism. Great literary works from around the world were translated into European languages, exposing the readers to different cultures. For example, the translation of The Thousand and One Nights is considered to be one of the most important translations in all of world literature.

It wasn’t until the seventies that the translator’s name began to be included on the covers of some novels, and even today it isn’t always the case.

• Literary translation skills

Literary translators are creative professionals with extensive cultural and linguistic knowledge in both languages, as well as specialised training in literary translation.

Knowledge of the author and their work is essential for a high quality reinterpretation in the literary translation.

• The role of literary translators

Literary translation work is, without a doubt, a literary activity. Many translators have been recognised as second authors of the  works they translated because of the literary quality of the translation.

We also find examples throughout history of authors who became literary translators, such as Charles Baudelaire, Vladimir Nabokov and Javier Marías.

• Difficulties of literary translation

One of the challenges that literary translators face is the subjective interpretation of the original text. The translator has to put themselves in the author’s shoes in order to reinterpret their work. To do this, they need to be familiar with the authors style, form and language, as well as their previous work. Literary translators also need to have creative abilities of their own in order to make effective use of punctuation, rhythm, syntax, meaning and other elements in their translations.

There is an interesting article on the Instituto Cervantes website that mentions three different types of errors in literary translation identified by the French-Canadian translation scholar Jean Darbelnet: contresens, non-sens and faux sens. The first term means that the that the translation is contradictory or inconsistent with its context. Non-sens refers to a meaningless or overly vague text. These texts usually produced by a translator who has not fully understood the original. The third type, faux sens, occurs when the message of a translation is comprehensible and makes sense in context, but it is not the same as the message in the source text.

If you would like to read the Spanish article, click on the following link: ¿Qué rasgos caracterizan una buena traducción literaria?