In this Book
- On Self-Translation: Meditations on Language
- Book
- 2018
- Published by: State University of New York Press
- Series: SUNY Press Open Access
summary
Finalist for the 2018 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards in the Essay category
From award-winning, internationally known scholar and translator Ilan Stavans comes On Self-Translation, a collection of essays and conversations on language in its multifaceted forms. Stavans discusses the way syntax is being restructured by texting and other technologies. He examines how the alphabet itself is being forgotten by the young, how finger snapping has taken on a new meaning, how the use of ellipses has lapsed, and how autocorrect is shaping the way we communicate. In an incisive meditation, he shows how translating one's own work reinvents oneself in another tongue. The volume includes tête-à-têtes with Pulitzer Prize–winner Richard Wilbur and short-fiction master Lydia Davis, as well as dialogues on silence, multilingualism, poetry, and the durability of the classics. Stavans's explorations cover Spanish, English, Hebrew, Yiddish, and the hybrid lexicon of Spanglish. He muses on the meaning of foreignness and on living and dying in different languages. Among his primary concerns are the role and history of dictionaries and the extent to which the authority of language academies is less a reality than a delusion. He concludes with renditions into Spanglish of portions of Hamlet, Don Quixote, and The Little Prince. The wide range of themes and engaging yet informed style confirm Stavans's status, in the words of the Washington Post, as "Latin America's liveliest and boldest critic and most innovative cultural enthusiast."
From award-winning, internationally known scholar and translator Ilan Stavans comes On Self-Translation, a collection of essays and conversations on language in its multifaceted forms. Stavans discusses the way syntax is being restructured by texting and other technologies. He examines how the alphabet itself is being forgotten by the young, how finger snapping has taken on a new meaning, how the use of ellipses has lapsed, and how autocorrect is shaping the way we communicate. In an incisive meditation, he shows how translating one's own work reinvents oneself in another tongue. The volume includes tête-à-têtes with Pulitzer Prize–winner Richard Wilbur and short-fiction master Lydia Davis, as well as dialogues on silence, multilingualism, poetry, and the durability of the classics. Stavans's explorations cover Spanish, English, Hebrew, Yiddish, and the hybrid lexicon of Spanglish. He muses on the meaning of foreignness and on living and dying in different languages. Among his primary concerns are the role and history of dictionaries and the extent to which the authority of language academies is less a reality than a delusion. He concludes with renditions into Spanglish of portions of Hamlet, Don Quixote, and The Little Prince. The wide range of themes and engaging yet informed style confirm Stavans's status, in the words of the Washington Post, as "Latin America's liveliest and boldest critic and most innovative cultural enthusiast."
Table of Contents
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- Half Title Page
- p. i
- Series Page
- p. ii
- Title Page
- p. iii
- Part I: Meeting the “I”
- pp. 1-2
- On Self-Translation
- pp. 3-10
- Part II: Meditations
- pp. 11-12
- Alphabetizing
- pp. 13-14
- As It Were
- pp. 15-18
- Parable of Don Quixote
- pp. 19-20
- Finger Snapping
- pp. 21-22
- The Tenure Code
- pp. 23-26
- Transadaptation
- pp. 27-30
- Ellipses and I
- pp. 31-34
- On Clarity
- pp. 35-38
- Auto-Corrected
- pp. 39-42
- Part III: Beyond Words
- pp. 43-44
- On Being Misunderstood
- pp. 45-52
- The Monkey Grammarian
- pp. 59-64
- Midrash on Truth
- pp. 65-70
- Don Quixote in Schlemieland
- pp. 71-74
- Dying in Hebrew
- pp. 75-88
- The Reading Life of Ricardo Piglia
- pp. 89-94
- Adiós, Chespirito
- pp. 95-98
- Part IV: On Fútbol
- pp. 99-100
- “Sudden Death”
- pp. 101-104
- Van Persie’s Goal
- pp. 105-106
- Box of Resonance
- pp. 107-108
- Part V: Language and Politics
- pp. 109-110
- Trump and the Wall
- pp. 111-114
- Why Doesn’t English Have an Academy?
- pp. 115-118
- Shakespeare in Prison
- pp. 119-122
- Against “Diversity”
- pp. 135-138
- Rolling One’s R’s
- pp. 139-142
- Part VI: Conversations
- pp. 143-144
- The Poet’s Alchemy
- pp. 145-156
- On Silence
- pp. 157-166
- Translating Cervantes
- pp. 167-180
- The Color of Existence
- pp. 181-192
- The Downpour of Inspiration
- pp. 193-196
- The Translingual Sensibility
- pp. 197-210
- Rescuing the Classics
- pp. 211-216
- Part VII: Onto Spanglish
- pp. 217-218
- Un Walker en Nuyol
- pp. 219-228
- El Little Príncipe, Chapters I–IV
- pp. 239-244
- Don Quixote, Parte II, Chapter 72
- pp. 245-250
- Spanglish and the Royal Academy
- pp. 251-252
- About the Author
- pp. 253-254
Additional Information
ISBN
9781438471501
MARC Record
OCLC
1302111170
Pages
284
Launched on MUSE
2022-03-08
Language
English
Open Access
Yes