乱伦强奸

In Review

Open Letter, the University鈥檚 nonprofit literary translation press, sold its 100,000th book this fall. The publishing house is also a partner in the University鈥檚 program in literary translation studies. Seven years after the press鈥檚 founding, and with 78 books in its list, director Chad Post says that he hopes to broaden Open Letter鈥檚 geographic perspective even more.

What鈥檚 the focus of Open Letter?

We go for a balance of two kinds of authors: classic authors that we know will sell well and new voices. For the well-established authors鈥攍ike Marguerite Duras, Elsa Morante, and Juan Jos茅 Saer鈥攚e like to bring some of their books back into print and to publish ones that have never been translated.

And we鈥檙e trying to find new voices that have never made it into English before. That鈥檚 what our NEA [National Endowment for the Arts] funding is for. It鈥檚 our 鈥淓merging Voices鈥� series.

Are the emerging voices all contemporary?

Not necessarily. L煤cio Cardoso from Brazil, who has never been published in English before, wrote what鈥檚 considered to be the greatest Brazilian gay novel. He died in the 1960s. He was a huge influence in Brazilian literature, and we鈥檙e publishing his novel Chronicle of the Murdered House. On the other hand, we鈥檙e also publishing Josefine Klougart鈥攁 young Danish author who was a finalist for the biggest Nordic prize twice by the age of 30.

But they鈥檙e both voices that haven鈥檛 been experienced by American readers.

How do you ensure geographic variety?

It鈥檚 something we look at. There are certain areas that we鈥檙e not good at yet, such as the Middle East and Africa. The systems there are different. For example, there aren鈥檛 agents. It鈥檚 much more time-intensive than it is when working with someone from France or Germany. So far we鈥檝e published one South African author. And the same with India鈥攖here are almost no books that are published in translation in the United States from Indian authors, and that鈥檚 another area we鈥檇 like to find someone from.

We haven鈥檛 hit all the regions yet, but it鈥檚 pretty wide. We have Chinese authors, all the western European countries, a lot from Latin America and South America.

We鈥檙e doing a series of books as part of a Danish women writers series. In tracking what gets published in translation, I鈥檝e found that in the past eight years, only 26 percent of translated books published in the United States are by female authors. That鈥檚 pretty bad. Incredibly low. We鈥檙e publishing five books over the next five years in the Danish women writers series. And it looks like we鈥檒l do the same with authors from South Korea.

There鈥檚 only one major country over the past eight years that鈥檚 had more female authors translated than males, and that鈥檚 Finland. And it鈥檚 all crime novels.

Are there other presses that do what Open Letter does?

There are a lot of people who publish literature in translation, at least one book鈥攂ut presses who publish a significant number, there are probably 10. They don鈥檛 all do exclusively translations [as Open Letter does], but they do a number of them. Oddly enough, the press that does the most translations of anyone is Amazon Crossing. They published 128 books over the past eight years鈥攁nd most of that in the past four years.

Has globalization changed things?

There鈥檚 not a lot of coverage of translations, but when there is, it tends to be in a different tone than it used to be. It used to be more dismissive鈥斺�渢his isn鈥檛 the 鈥榬eal鈥� book,鈥� or, 鈥渋f you鈥檙e going to read translations, here鈥檚 a good book.鈥� Now it鈥檚 more positive and more generally accepting of international literature as a valuable part of book culture as a whole.

All these books that have broken through鈥攕uch as Elena Ferrante鈥檚 Neapolitan novels and Stieg Larsson鈥檚 鈥淢illennium trilogy鈥濃�攈ave shifted the conversation away from 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to read books from Finland or Sweden鈥� to 鈥淭hese are interesting.鈥� That鈥檚 changed the conversation dramatically.

What are the hallmarks of a good translation?

The main thing I look for is voice, that you can feel the voice and style of the original book in the translation. With a good translation, you can hear and feel the voice and know right away that you鈥檙e on sure footing as a reader.

It鈥檚 easier to note what can be bad about it鈥攁 lot of inverted clauses that are mimicking the original syntax, wooden and flat dialogue. When it feels mechanical, it鈥檚 just not working. Translations can be completely accurate, but not feel like they鈥檙e 鈥渨ritten.鈥� They don鈥檛 feel organic鈥攁nd a good translation feels organic when you read it.

What鈥檚 ahead for Open Letter?

We鈥檝e had a lot of authors we鈥檝e worked on who have won big awards recently, and I think one of these years we鈥檙e going to have a book that sells 8,000 copies. We鈥檙e in the right position to be able to do that. It鈥檚 nothing you can predict. Things just have to lock into place right, and when that happens, it will be really important.

And I think we鈥檒l hit more regions of the world. But mostly we鈥檒l continue to help train translators through the University, working with students and getting them out into the workforce. A lot of our translators have had success recently, and that鈥檚 gratifying鈥攇etting published, getting grants, awards, and residencies. They鈥檙e the things you need to do to move from a college graduate who does translations to a career translator whom people automatically go to. A number of them have fallen into that category.

You published Voices from Chernobyl by this year鈥檚 Nobel laureate in literature, Svetlana Alexievich, when you were with Dalkey Archive Press. Any lessons for Open Letter in that?

A Nobel Prize isn鈥檛 something you can really plan or prepare for. I think if you look for high-quality books from a vast number of voices and areas, you鈥檙e just going to stumble upon the right one at the right point in time.锘匡豢