Surprised in Translation

For Mary Ann Cawsnoted translator of surrealist poetrythe most appealing translations are also the oddest; the unexpected, unpredictable, and unmimetic turns that translations take are an endless source of fascination and instruction. Surprised in Translation is a celebration of the occasional and fruitful peculiarity that results from some of the most flavorful translations of well-known authors. These translations, Caws avers, can energize and enliven the voice of the original. In eight elegant chapters Caws reflects on translations that took her by surprise. Caws shows that the elimination of certain passages from the originalin the case of Stphane Mallarm translating Tennyson, Ezra Pound interpreting the troubadours, or Virginia Woolf rendered into French by Clara Malraux, Charles Mauron, and Marguerite Yourcenaroften produces a greater and more coherent art. Alternatively, some translationssuch as Yves Bonnefoys translations of Shakespeare, Keats, and Yeats into Frenchrequire more lines in order to fully capture the many facets of the original. On other occasions, Caws argues, a swerve in meaningas in Beckett translating himself into French or Englishcan produce a new text, just as true as the original. Imbued with Cawss personal observations on the relationship between translators and the authors they translate, Surprised in Translation will interest a wide range of readers, including students of translation, professional literary translators, and scholars of modern and comparative literature.