What Makes a Translation

My book editing class attended the "Writer as Translator: Translator as Writer" panel today.
Some thoughts gathered there:

1. A translator is like a musician, and the original author is the composer.
          Or, in other words, they're both artists. What's more, ten different musicians could play the same piece in ten different ways, but it's still the same song. It's kind of cool to think about. I have 3 or 4 different versions of the song "Gypsy David" (one of which I barely recognized). What if I wanted 3 or 4 translations of Dante? Or Beowulf? Or, for that matter, Harry Potter in Spanish? Actually, what about just the fact that I do have two versions of Harry Potter - Spanish and English?
         Just look at the Bible (Isaiah 11:9):

לא-ירצו ולא-ישחיתו בכל-הר קדשי כי-מלאה הארץ דעה את-יהוה כמים לים מכסים
"They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea."
"Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the LORD."
"No one will harm or destroy on my entire holy mountain, for the land will be as full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is filled with water."
"They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea."
         ....and that's just one verse.

2. Writers are translators. They translate reality.
         Well, cool. And here I am, translating my memory of a seminar into a blog post.

3. Conversations are translation.
        Just think about it. If you ask someone how their day went, and they look at the floor an mumble "Good, I guess," you ask what's wrong. If you ask someone how their day went, and they look you in the eye with a big smile and say "Good!" you smile back and want to hear all about the fun they had. So what does "good" mean?




"You always should do what you cannot do" - Willis Barnstone

Good Earplugs Make Good Neighbors

Drums, drums in the Deep.
no...
drums, drums all around,
while I'm trying to sleep.
I'd like to smash that drum,
melt that horn,
snap those strings -
no...
it would not do
to do any of those things
it just would not be fair
to the drum, horn, and guitar,
and as for the band -
it'd be too good for them by far.

written 10/16/10 @ 2am

Lots of Rambling

So, it's definitely been a while. I don't even know where to start...

Classes. Yeah.
Classes have started and I am really, really excited. I'm taking Applications for Print Publishing - we're working with InDesign at the moment - and Book Publishing Overview, which is really, really cool (yeah, I know, I'm in writing/publishing and should be able to express myself better than "really, really cool" but I'm TOO EXCITED... oops, sorry, carried away. Anyway, it's a similar effect to my reaction to the news that ALEX AND WALTER ARE ENGAGED! ...okay, carried away again). To get back on topic, today's class is going to be about the editorial department, which I'm really looking forward to. The homework was to research a publisher and be ready to present on it - perhaps I'll do a post on that too. After classes, we generally all head over to the Tam to hang out & talk.

Work.
Not too much news - work is still fun, with great benefits like cheap/free books and being able to borrow bestsellers. We have even more ereader options to memorize. I'm loving working in the kids' section. Oh, and I got to do the kids' story time once!

Books.
The system for borrowing is being re-worked, so reading the bestseller list is on hold for a while. The last book I checked out was actually the first 3 Guardians of G'Hoole, so I figure now I'm allowed to see the movie. I'm more excited about the Harry Potter movie, though. I've started listening to Mugglecast again (love their chapter-by-chapter).

Boston in general
The weather's cooled down. I've scheduled an appointment to become a lector at church. I still want to go to the beach and the aquarium.

Apartment
I love my roommates. I also love how adult the apartment's furnishings feel. I'm even taking care of a plant! I remembered to water it! This is an achievement for me! One annoyance, though: as I write this blog, I am waiting for Comcast's repair people because we still don't have working cable. Oh well.

Writing
Some progress. Most of it in figuring out just what's been going wrong in a couple stories... which may not have resulted in visible progress (yet), but is definitely a big help. Also, I now have all my Tamora Pierce books, so I might go back to the parody I was writing...

Oops

I set myself some writing goals for this summer. Now that I only have two weeks before my classes start I realize that I have, so far, been an utter failure at all of them. I have not focused enough, and have put all my moments of concentration into this blog. So, with the exception of continuing my book reviews, I will be avoiding this blog until I start school.

Perhaps I'll actually get something done.

There's nothing like a close deadline, after all.