Post It #243

Let's not kid ourselves: everyone hates translations. The evidence is everywhere in the history of literature. Cervantes wrote that reading a translation was "like looking at the Flanders tapestries from behind: although you can see the basic shapes, they are so filled with threads that you cannot fathom their original luster. "Goethe took issue with translators themselves, whom he likened to "enthusiastic matchmakers singing the praises of some half-naked young beauty: they awaken in us an irresistible urge to see the real thing with our own eyes. "Gide observed that the translator was "a horseman who tries to put his steed through paces for which it is not built." Madame de Lafayette equated the translator with "a lackey whose mistress sends him to pay someone a compliment; whatever she said politely, he renders rude.

Excelente texto de Wyatt Mason, a propósito das novas traduções de Proust surgidas recentemente nos Estados Unidos.