01/06/2014
The Macedonian website off.net.mk published an interesting article by Vladimir Nabokov on literary translation. In his article The Art of Translation in 1941, Nabokov mentions the three grades of evil most frequently committed by those conducting the thankless task of verbal transmigration – literary translators.
The first, and the lesser one, comprises obvious errors due to ignorance or misguided knowledge.
A more heinous ‘sin’ is committed by a translator who intentionally skips words or passages that they do not bother to understand or that might also seem obscure to readers.
The third, and the worst, sin is when translations of literary masterpieces conform to the notions and prejudices of a given audience.