The three readings seemed to offer very different visions of the translator’s role in terms of faithfulness or fidelity, but I found it interesting how similar their thought processes were in regards to specific translation problems.
Nabokov’s essay was funnier than I expected, with an indignant and forceful tone from the very beginning. I’ve never read any of his work, so this surprised me. I also haven’t thought about the types of rhyme in other languages for some reason. I appreciated the specific examples of how Nabokov went about his version of fidelity, which seemed to be preserving form above meaning above readability.
I also appreciated Robert Bly’s “Eight Stages.” I’ve been overwhelmed trying to start my translation project. The translations in this class have been so short with so many completed references that I haven’t done much in terms of revision. Bly’s framework made sense and seemed to balance Nabokov’s strict sense of fidelity with Levine’s freer sense of interpretation.
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