Literary Translation in Australia Today
International PEN will be presenting their report, Translation and Globalisation, to the United Nations this month. The report, based on studies carried out by approximately 13 PEN centres worldwide, examines the status of literary translation in a global context. But what is the state of literary translation in Australia? Katja Gaskell talks to the chief respondent of the report for Sydney PEN, Barbara McGilvray, to find out.
"There's a lack of importance placed on literary translation in Australia," explains Barbara who has translated more than 25 books from Italian into English as well as numerous academic papers and essays. "People don't think about it. It's not a misconception; it's just that people don't think that when they read Dostoevsky for example, that it wasn't originally written in English."
The report does not paint a rosy picture of the state of literary translation in Australia and Barbara admits that even finding information on translators and translated works to include in the study was challenging. There is no information pertaining to the percentage of books published in Australia annually that are translations of foreign literary works into English nor is there any information available on the number of professional literary translators working in Australia today. As a result Sydney PEN are planning to compile and collate such information so that it will be available in the future and over the next five years, International PEN plan to devote funding to promote the translation of literary works.
But why is there such little regard for translators and translated literary works in Australia? Barbara believes the answer lies in Australia's history.
"Translation started off here because of a need," explains Barbara. "Translating things such as legal papers, medical documents and such for immigrants, that's how the industry started here. And it's (translation) is still kind of put in a welfare slot, even now 30 years later, it's held in very low esteem."
According to Barbara, many translators today still rely on legal and health translation work for their bread and butter.
"Things are turning round a bit now," says Barbara. "And with globalisation, business provides more translation opportunities. But literary translation remains in a small corner of its own."
Sydney PEN is hoping that their contribution to the International PEN report will help raise awareness more than anything.
"Because without literary translation we're missing out on so much," says Barbara. "If there had been no translation then we wouldn't have read Proust, Dante or Dostoevsky. There's so many culture treasures, so many literatures we don't know and cultures we don't understand because they're not translated."
In addition to work with the Sydney PEN translation committee, in the last few years Barbara has been waging a personal campaign to ensure that translators receive the recognition they deserve.
"I keep an eye on the reviews in the papers and if a translator is not mentioned or it's not mentioned that the book is a translation then I write to the editor," explains Barbara. "There usually follows a burst of names before it goes quiet again."
Another problem lies with publishing houses which, according to Barbara, are reluctant to pay for translation rights to a literary work that they don't trust will sell or will only use a translator with a reputation in order to increase its marketability.
"Which means that if you translate a work on spec," explains Barbara. "Then it's almost impossible to find a publisher."
However, despite the difficulties faced by translators worldwide to make a living, Barbara does highlight some Australian success stories that provide inspiration, most notably Mabel Lee who translated the Chinese novel Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian.
"She's a great role model," says Barbara. "She spent ten years translating Soul Mountain and then managed to get it published. Just after if was published; the writer won the Nobel Prize for Literature and in the end it was the only English version of the Nobel winning work."
Of course every translator hopes for that "big, magnificent literary work" says Barbara. And Mabel Lee just happened to meet Gao Xingjian in Paris and he didn't have an English translator at the time. Nevertheless, her success and the publishing company, Wild Peony Press, that she subsequently established that specialises in English-language publications on Asia, serves as shining example of what is possible.
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"There's a lack of importance placed on literary translation in Australia," explains Barbara who has translated more than 25 books from Italian into English as well as numerous academic papers and essays. "People don't think about it. It's not a misconception; it's just that people don't think that when they read Dostoevsky for example, that it wasn't originally written in English."
The report does not paint a rosy picture of the state of literary translation in Australia and Barbara admits that even finding information on translators and translated works to include in the study was challenging. There is no information pertaining to the percentage of books published in Australia annually that are translations of foreign literary works into English nor is there any information available on the number of professional literary translators working in Australia today. As a result Sydney PEN are planning to compile and collate such information so that it will be available in the future and over the next five years, International PEN plan to devote funding to promote the translation of literary works.
But why is there such little regard for translators and translated literary works in Australia? Barbara believes the answer lies in Australia's history.
"Translation started off here because of a need," explains Barbara. "Translating things such as legal papers, medical documents and such for immigrants, that's how the industry started here. And it's (translation) is still kind of put in a welfare slot, even now 30 years later, it's held in very low esteem."
According to Barbara, many translators today still rely on legal and health translation work for their bread and butter.
"Things are turning round a bit now," says Barbara. "And with globalisation, business provides more translation opportunities. But literary translation remains in a small corner of its own."
Sydney PEN is hoping that their contribution to the International PEN report will help raise awareness more than anything.
"Because without literary translation we're missing out on so much," says Barbara. "If there had been no translation then we wouldn't have read Proust, Dante or Dostoevsky. There's so many culture treasures, so many literatures we don't know and cultures we don't understand because they're not translated."
In addition to work with the Sydney PEN translation committee, in the last few years Barbara has been waging a personal campaign to ensure that translators receive the recognition they deserve.
"I keep an eye on the reviews in the papers and if a translator is not mentioned or it's not mentioned that the book is a translation then I write to the editor," explains Barbara. "There usually follows a burst of names before it goes quiet again."
Another problem lies with publishing houses which, according to Barbara, are reluctant to pay for translation rights to a literary work that they don't trust will sell or will only use a translator with a reputation in order to increase its marketability.
"Which means that if you translate a work on spec," explains Barbara. "Then it's almost impossible to find a publisher."
However, despite the difficulties faced by translators worldwide to make a living, Barbara does highlight some Australian success stories that provide inspiration, most notably Mabel Lee who translated the Chinese novel Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian.
"She's a great role model," says Barbara. "She spent ten years translating Soul Mountain and then managed to get it published. Just after if was published; the writer won the Nobel Prize for Literature and in the end it was the only English version of the Nobel winning work."
Of course every translator hopes for that "big, magnificent literary work" says Barbara. And Mabel Lee just happened to meet Gao Xingjian in Paris and he didn't have an English translator at the time. Nevertheless, her success and the publishing company, Wild Peony Press, that she subsequently established that specialises in English-language publications on Asia, serves as shining example of what is possible.
posted by Sydney PEN at 11:10 am
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