The Art of Losing

 

The hidden message of calling poetry, and therefore translating it, the act of losing made me look at poetry translation from a different perspective. Losing here is actually winning, and the paradox reveals the creativity of translation. After reading Cavanagh, equivalence should not be sought within word-for-word translation or what we call literal translation. Indeed, literal translation can take place without the word-for-word translation process. The equivalence in terms of meaning and form can be conveyed with different words, and the same effect can be present in the target text. This "creating the effect in a different way" approach was also present in the translation of The Vegetarian. All loss is converted into gain.

 

Cavanagh’s mention of his son taking a blanket, putting it over his head, running down the hallway, banging into the walls at full speed, and falling down on the floor laughing his head off made me think of the translation processes as well as the poetry translation examined throughout the article. Additionally, the phenomenon the joyful failure comforts me, seeing other translators going through these phases where we fail and still enjoy failing. Translation is not always about the precise, high-quality outcome but the experience of trying to bring over the meaning in another language, which we enjoy working in.

Ece Celikkol