Stingy Kids

Pevear and Volokhonsky @ Strand

This past Thursday Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky--the translators of a recently published, new English translation of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace--took part in a conversation on translation with Professor Vladimir Alexandrov (Chair of the Slavic Department, Yale University) at The Strand in NYC.  I attended the first fifteen minutes of their talk, which was just enough time to catch one great quote (if I didn't remember this correctly, please let me know):

"Literal translation is--the phone book."--Larissa Volokhonsky.

Pevear and Volokhonsky were asked to describe how they undertake their collaborative translation, which by now encompasses works by Bulgakov, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, and Gogol.  Volokhonsky explained that the first stage involves producing a word-by-word translation of the original text.  It's not really a literal translation because she includes copious notes (regarding the style, particular word choices, historical and cultural references and allusions).  Pevear takes all of this material and "shapes" it into English "that makes sense."  They pass the manuscript back and forth many times until, in their eyes, it reads like good English prose and honors the original.  At this point, I had to leave.  But I did manage to take a blurry picture of them pre-signing copies of War and Peace:

Doris Lessing, Nobel Laureate

Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to 10 women. With yesterday's announcement, the Swedish Academy in Stockholm has raised this number to a whopping 11.  Congratulations, Doris Lessing!

Professor Horace Engdahl, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, made the announcement in five languages: Swedish, English, French, German and Russian.  The fact that the announcement is multilingual is my favorite thing about it.  Here it is:

(12/07: The embedded video was slowing down page loading so I have removed it. You can find it on the Nobel Prize website.)

Giving a Nobel Lecture is now pretty standard but in the early years of the Nobel Prize in Literature, most recipients only delivered a short Banquet Speech (and still do so in addition to the Lecture).  Usually, the Banquet Speech consisted of little more than thanking the Academy but on some occasions, it was more comprehensive and contemplative.  Selma Lagerlöf's Banquet Speech takes the form a dream story in which she imagines meeting her father in Heaven and discussing with him the debt she feels towards her audience and fellow authors.  Wislawa Szymborska's delivered her very short speech in French.  The only female writer for whom we have no Banquet Speech is the Sardinian novelist Grazia Deledda.  I'm curious to know why that's the case but, at any rate, I've provided excerpts from the Banquet Speeches and Nobel Lectures of the 10 female recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature.  Doris Lessing's speech will appear in the coming weeks.