Traditionally, translation is seen as a means to transfer the language of a given manuscript (source text or ST) into another language (target text or TT). However, translation may also be seen as an art form in that the translator is, in the act of translating, actually producing a new literary text based on the original source text. It is also possible to take it a step further and, in fact, use translation as a source of inspiration to create new texts. In the course of the thirteen years that I have worked as a translator I have frequently caught myself discovering the literary techniques employed by the authors I have translated and I have thought about the fact that those techniques could potentially be a source of inspiration in my own writing. The beauty of translation is that you don’t have to create a text to have something to work on, it’s already written for you, which is especially beneficial if you are suffering from writer’s block. But even if you aren’t, there are plenty of methods and ways that translation can help you tap into the great potential that your writing holds in store for you and that you may not have been aware of.
Marcel Proust, Lydia Davis, Haruki Murakami and Ágota Kristóf all claim to have been impacted by and/or used the art of translation to tap into their own potential voices in terms of creative writing. In this course, we will examine various ways of approaching translation in different literary genres, and we will also take a brief look at how the art of translation has transformed through the centuries and the various debates that have arisen as a result – all of which may contribute to providing new and exciting ways of working with and approaching translation and using it as a source of inspiration.
We will also consider Damion Searle’s book The Philosophy of Translation, in which he discusses the notion of translation as being a philosophical act especially withing the field of phenomenology. One of his most important arguments in that regard is that translating, just like reading itself, is essentially a purely subjective experience and hence there is no wrong way to translate a given text, just like there is no wrong way of reading a text (find the link to his entire podcast below). That is, in fact, the sort of open-mindedness that is needed when approaching any sort of writing. Try keeping that sort of ”open-minded” approach throughout the course – your subjective experience of a text, no matter what it is, is of value and can be used also later in your creative writing process. Additionally, some creative writers find themselves in what is called a ”writer’s block” on occasion, where they feel they can no longer write or produce anything of value. There can be many reasons for developing that feeling but, no matter what, the best remedy for it is simply to write, which is easier said than done for those suffering from that state of mind. But that is where translation comes in, because, as mentioned before, all you need to do is find a text, any text, in a language you feel fairly comfortable with, and you don’t necessarily need to be a native speaker in that language by the way, and you can actually get started. You may even discover that the act of translating helps you to improve your style and voice in your native tongue (or whatever language you write in) in ways you hadn’t dreamed of. As a matter of fact, Murakami has written that in order to break free from what he regarded as the constraints of the Japanese language in terms of writing novels he began writing in his second language, which was English, and would subsequently translate that text into his native tongue, Japanese, which revealed and allowed him to discover and develop his own unique voice in Japanese. He discusses the process in this excerpt from his collection Novelist as a Vocation published by the Guardian in which he mentions how the writer Ágota Kristóf has also used the same method:
Ref:
Searl’s podcast: (13) #252 – The Philosophy of Translation: A Dialogue with Damion Searls – YouTube.
Assignment:
Read Murakami’s description of how he used translation to tap into his voice in Japanese and consider his description of Ágota Kristóf’s similar approach.
Consider the following questions, write them down and discuss them.
What do you think of this approach? Is it something that you might consider experimenting with? If yes, why? If not, why not?
Do you, like Murakami, also have a second language that you feel comfortable enough writing in to later translate into your own language (or whatever language you are used to writing in) in order to tap into aspects of your writing which may not otherwise be apparent to you? What languages would you consider working with and what genre of literature would you want to try it in?