Notes on “Fragments and Gestures between Languages in Translation” with Susan Bernofsky
February 16, 2016
Susan Bernofsky began “Fragments and Gestures between Languages in Translation” by discussing her particular choices in translating Jenny Erpenbeck’s The End of Days.
Issues that arose included how to best translate modernist-inflected
fragments that themselves may be paraphrasing other historical or
literary documents. A colorful example included the implicit citation by
Erpenbeck of an obscure Soviet manual detailing live proceedings in
which marxist representatives argued over contemporary definitions of
marxism. (Bernofsky raised related issues specifically arising in the
English translation–how “Trotskyist” or “Trotskyite” present neutral
and pejorative versions of a single German word.) The seminarians then
discussed the unusual nature of Germanic syntax from other Erpenbeck
excerpts, such as how to properly translate the following literal
translation: “he throws up to whom actually does one throw-up/surrender
oneself, when one throws up.” Suggestions included notions of
“surrender,” “giving up,” and “throwing one’s hands up.” Bernofsky then
moved to Forrest Gander’s essay “The Great Leap: César and the Caesura,”
prompting discussion about “traditions” of translation, and situating
translators within self- or other-ascribed traditions.