the Republic

In his essay "The American Universe" within his revised and newly published collection The Embattled Lyric, Nathaniel Tarn writes:

"Translation is i) a duty within the Republic of Letters; ii) a way of allowing various voices to speak; iii) a means of letting air into the beds of our own letters. Editorial activity is an extension of translation, not only from languages but from disciplines."

Words worthy of beatification; at least some passing time and its consideration.

Translation in Percents

The issue is this -- the current state of literature in translation, especially poetry, is dire; however, doling out money for literary translations to a small number of presses that are largely uninterested in translation but, instead, interested in funding, solves nothing. In a best case scenario, the money provided by the granting organization is sometimes just enough to cover advances, printing, and a modest amount of advertising for a book in translation. There is not usually enough funding to bring the author stateside.

Having one extra title per season does afford the publisher a couple extra minutes during sales conference, a few hundred books get scattered to top independent and university accounts, and then the author gets quickly buried in the presses' backlist, which is otherwise, largely, constructed of regional (based on the presses' provenance) midlist authors. What a resounding success.

What is required is this -- a business model and plan slightly less dull and vacuous. One that considers, first, the author and the press, rather than using "literary translation" as a banner under which to siphon extra funds to the usual suspects.

I'm working on it.