The Year of the Translation: An Interview with Open Letter Editor Chad Post
If you looked at the recent media frenzy over Bolano's 2666 (even The Economist has a story about it), you'd think that translations were really hot this year. According to a translation database manually compiled by Open Letter this year, though, the percentage of new books published in the U.S. that are translations is still coming in at around 3% or lower. Open Letter's mission is to try to change all that.
A number of presses publish translations, but Open Letter (a small press out of the University of Rochester) only publishes translations. Their blog, Three Percent (based on the 3% mentioned above), has done a lot to promote international literature--it regularly features reviews, lit mags from other countries, and programs like Reading the World and Words Without Borders. This week they're previewing their Spring 2009 line-up.
Open Letter has published three books so far:
Nobody's Home, by Dubrevka Ugresic. It's easy to see why they kicked off with Ugresic. Her mini-essays and cultural analysis about the new Europe and and life in exile set up the panorama of the new global culture. Whether she's writing about suitcases, stereotypes, or the dehumanization of capitalism run amok, Ugresic speaks with a casual directness that's both surprising and really fun to read. (Translated by Ellen Elias-Bursac.)
The Pets, by Bragi Olafsson, is a hilarious, claustrophobic farce of sorts that looks at the
odd relationship between two old friends. When I interviewed Olafsson last month, he called the book a "chamber novel" as most of the action takes place in a small apartment...with the main character under the bed. (Funny stuff.) One of my favorite novels this year. (Translated by Janice Balfour.)
The Taker, by Rubem Fonseco. Wow. If this story collection (Fonseco's first to be translated into English) doesn't scare the heck out of you, you'll love it. As an example: In the title story, "The Taker," the narrator decides that the world owes him everything, and he makes it his mission in life to "take" (read: kill). These antiheroes' humanity emerges in unusual ways, and the constant anxiety of extreme class differences and the eerie urban landscapes around Rio de Janeiro make this an unforgettable read. (Translated by Clifford E. Landers.)
Chad Post, the editor responsible for bringing these works to the U.S., took time out of his very busy schedule to answer some of my questions:
Amazon.com: My first question is a bit personal. It seems like you're always off to New York or the Twin Cities or Frankfurt or other international destinations. And you're a prolific blogger. And you run a translation studies program. And a press. And you do interviews on TV. Are you tired?
Chad Post: One of my bad shopping habits is to buy the largest, tallest coffee mugs I can find . . . Honestly, it can be a bit exhausting, but a lot of these things--going to book fairs, visiting other countries--are extremely fun. And somewhat energizing. And, umm, I like to stay busy?
Amazon.com: How does it feel to have the first books out the door?
CP: It’s indescribable. It’s one thing when you’re at a press that’s been around for a while and you see a book through from start to finish, but having built the press from the ground up makes it so much more meaningful. I even had the printer overnight copies to me in D.C. since I wasn’t going to be there when the first book arrived . . .
Amazon.com: The book designs are really exciting. Who is responsible, and how did that come about?
CP: That’s thanks to our senior editor E.J. Van Lanen, his good friend Milan Bozic, and a meeting with Proa editions at the Frankfurt Book Fair. It was at the Fair that E.J. and I decided we wanted to publish our books in the paper-over-board format. (The books are durable, and read like hardcovers, but sans book jacket, we’re able to keep the prices really low.) And Milan--who does design for HarperCollins--had the vision for this first series of titles. The books are meant to resemble each other, work on the p-o-b format, and bright enough to jump out at readers.
Amazon.com: I wonder if people see "works in translation from a university press" and think the books might be too serious or literary (read: boring). But, wow, that's definitely not the case with your books. Both the Ugresic and Ólafsson books are very funny, and they all have a renegade sensibility. What are some of your strategies for getting readers excited about other fantastic authors they don't know?
CP: I totally know where you’re coming from with the “boring” comment. I feel like a few university presses describe the translations they publish in such a way that it seems like the books are going to be a lot of work to read. And it doesn’t help that most people--reviewers, bookstores, other publishers--have a built-in idea that “international literature doesn’t sell.” This really isn’t true. Readers are interested in books from other countries--the bigger problem is making them aware of these titles at a time when book review sections are closing down, and the industry is running off of a “best-seller” loaded model in which everyone is reading the same twelve books at any point in time. That said, we’ve had tremendous success marketing our books online, not just to bloggers but to actual readers as well. We still try and get reviews in the typical media outlets (newspapers, magazines, and radio), but I’ve been finding that our more direct approaches are really paying off. It helps that our books are fun and exciting to read . . .
Amazon.com: What's your process for identifying and choosing books for publication?
CP: We have an editorial committee that helps make final decisions, but most of the upfront work is done by me and E.J. We go to Frankfurt, we read all the catalogs and samples, we’re in touch with translators about getting samples, etc. When we find a book we absolutely love and want to share with everyone, we present it to our committee. Although this might sound systematic, it’s really a bit more chaotic and riddled with coincidences . . .
Amazon.com: How do you find your translators (or do they find you)?
CP: It really depends. For books we find and want to get translated (like Jorge Volpi’s Season of Ash which comes out next fall), we contact our network of translators and find the right person for the job. But a lot of books come along with a translator, such as Janice Balfour with Bragi Olafsson’s The Pets. She had already been working on this (she had actually finished it) when we signed the book on. It’s usually easier that way—translators already invested in a project tend to do wonderful translations. Not that others don’t, but it’s just cool to find someone passionate about the same book you are and then have the chance to work with them on presenting it to English readers. This is one of those energizing activities that keep me awake . . .
Amazon.com: You do a great job on your blog pointing out instances in the U.S. mainstream press of U.S.-centeredness. At what point in your career did you start to become attuned to this? Does it make you crazy, or give you fuel for your cause?
CP: I’m not entirely sure when this started, although doing publicity for Dalkey’s books in translation was a striking first-hand experience in how difficult it can be to get attention for international writers. (Not that it’s that much easier for literature written by Americans.) When I was working in bookstores, I became obsessed with foreign fiction, Latin American fiction in particular. It bugged me then as it bugs me now, how difficult it is to find out about contemporary writers from Chile or Argentina or Peru or wherever. Of course, once you do find out about someone who sounds fascinating, his/her books probably aren’t available in translation . . . Thankfully I'm now in a position where I can help do something about that. On the whole I think most review sources do what they can. They’re inevitably U.S.-centric--they have to cater to their readers to some degree, and they believe their readers want to hear about American writers--but nowadays, as compared to six years ago, they’re aware of international fiction and the lack of coverage given to it. At least there’s a dialogue and general appreciation.
Amazon.com: I'm sure there are some authors (Bolaño, Sebald, Houellebecq) that are fairly widely read in the U.S. (at least as much as other "literary" fiction), but it seems like we do miss out on a lot of great literature. Who should we be reading? Who are you reading?
CP: One of the things about publishing is that you’re almost always limited to books you’re about to publish or are thinking about publishing. So I’ve been proofing—and greatly enjoying—The Conqueror by Jan Kjaerstad, which we’re bringing out in February. We’re getting the translation of Kjaerstad’s next book (The Discoverer) later this week, which should be fantastic.
Outside of OL books though, I’m a huge fan of Antonio Lobo Antunes, and his new book, What Can I Do When Everything’s on Fire?, is remarkably good. A more obscure book that’s just coming out and is totally worth reading is Metropole by Ference Karinthy. It’s about a linguist who, on his way to a conference, falls asleep and wakes up in a country where he can’t understand the language . . .
I’m really looking forward to reading Bonsai by Alejandro Zambra (part of Melville House’s “Art of the Contemporary Novella” series) and Eros by Helmut Krausser, and the new translation of The City and the Mountains by Eca de Queiros. And yes, I did finish Bolano’s 2666, and it is an absolute masterpiece.
Amazon.com: Do you see much interest in works in translation among book bloggers? Have non-professional bloggers requested your ARCs?
CP: Bloggers are voracious readers, and are open to all sorts of books, including translations from unknown foreign authors. This culture runs completely counter to all the dire “death of reading” reports that have been coming out. I don’t doubt that the average person only reads a handful of books a year, but thanks to the internet, those of us who are big readers can now connect, share recommendations, and spread the word to large audiences about great works of literature. There have been a few non-professional bloggers asking us for books, and I’m more than happy to send along copies. What’s most important to me is getting books into the hands of people who will read and think about them. Even a negative review from a blogger is more satisfying than sending off copies to newspapers or magazines and never hearing anything. There’s some sort of reviewer cost-value relationship equation in there somewhere . . .
Amazon.com: In your experience, what are the great things and not so great things about working for a small press?
CP: The absolute best thing is the fact that you can be involved in every aspect of the publishing business. No one is stuck in the “direct marketing” department at a small press—you’re privy to all the interworkings, which provides small press people with a more comprehensive view of publishing than most people working at a commercial house. The worst thing? You never have enough money to do all that you could do. Most small presses are financially under-capitalized, as even as a nonprofit capable of receiving grants and individual donations (Open Letter is in this situation), you still have a tough time breaking even. We, as a field, are still creating a donation culture for nonprofit literary presses. A lot of people donate to nonprofit theaters and galleries, but have no idea that publishing houses such as ours, or Archipelago, or Graywolf, need support as well.
Amazon.com: Thank you for your passion and good work--I feel like U.S. readers (myself included) are very lucky that you're out there bringing great stories to us that we would totally miss otherwise. And thanks for your time.
CP: Thanks for getting in touch. I love your blog and I really enjoyed talking with you.
--Heidi
Russian Translator on December 16, 2008 at 06:21 AM
I think that in general the level of translation nowadays is not very high and the question of quality is still open. I suppose one of the problems is that a lot of translators use different utilities that do not give the required accuracy.
http://www.all-translations.com