RTW/Interview with Chad Post of the Dalkey Archive Press
By now most of us are aware of May's Reading the World program. For those who haven't yet heard: 100 bookstores, 5 publishers x 4 works in translation each, promtote 10 per store, displays, everyone read a translation now.
I'm enthusiastic about RTW, and already this program has made me think about how many translations I do read. It's also made me ask some questions. Why are there so few translations available? Why should I be reading them? What do other countries think of works in translation?
For the answers to this and more, I turn to Chad Post of Dalkey Archive Press, one of the 5 publishers participating in RTW.
Q: I know that Dalkey publishes a lot of excellent works in translation, and if you could you would have nominated all of them. But the fact is that you had to pick four. Why did you nominate these?
You're right--I would have loved to recommend all of our works in translation for this program, but I think these four books illustrate the diversity of our list and are four of the best books we publish.
VOICES FROM CHERNOBYL by Svetlana Alexievich is one of the most important books we've ever done. It's a brutal book, yet is incredibly compelling. One of the aspects that most interested me was the way the attempts of the Soviet government to downplay and cover up this accident directly affected the citizens of Belarus. This is even more relevant in relation to the recent report that the sarcophagus designed to contain the remaining nuclear material in the reactor is falling apart and may not last more than another year or two. If it does break, we'll have Chernobyl all over again, minus the explosion. Instead, nuclear matter will just drift over Europe, and to the best of my knowledge, there is no plan in place to deal with this potential catastrophe.
THREE TRAPPED TIGERS by G. Cabrera Infante is one of my five favorite books of all time. It's incredibly playful and inventive, and it's a shame that Cabrera Infante never experienced the success he deserved in this country before he passed away in February. So, in a way, this is my most selfish pick: It's a book I absolutely love and want to share with everyone. That said, Andy Garcia's directorial debut--THE LOST CITY--will be coming out later this year, and the screenplay for this movie was written by GCI and is based on THREE TRAPPED TIGERS. Hopefully reading this book will be a good lead-in to seeing the movie.
THANK YOU FOR NOT READING by Dubravka Ugresic is a collection of essays about the book publishing industry and our cultural obsession with celebrity. Her primary argument is that quality literature is ignored by the media in favor of celebrity tell-alls written by photogenic authors. And quality literature written in a language other than English . . . even if it gets published, no one will ever hear about it. Could there be a better book for this program?
CHINESE LETTER by Svetislav Basara is the best original book we've ever published from the former-Yugoslavia. It's a remarkable book filled with uncertainty, playfulness, and a sick sense of humor. We came out with this last fall, but it didn't receive much attention (aside from a great review in the recent issue of the London Review of Books). Readers of Joyce, Beckett, and Queneau will love this book, but without many mentions, how will they find out about it? That's one of the issues the Reading the World program is trying to address, and the reason I decided to include this title.
Q: According to the American Booksellers Association, out of 185,000 titles published in the U.S. in 2004, only 874 were adult literature in translation. What’s the loss to American readers that so few books available are works in translation? Put conversely, why is it important to read world literature?
In my opinion, there are two primary reasons why this statistic is horrifying and why readers should be interested in world literature. First of all, reading is one of the best ways to learn about another culture. This may sound cliched, but it is absolutely true. There's a lot going on in the world, and a lot of viewpoints about what's going on, and the best access to these other opinions is in literature in translation. Aside from that, I think some of the best literature is being written in countries other than the U.S. Not to discount American authors, there are a number of great American writers writing today, but as a press, the books we've been finding from other countries are absolutely brilliant. A lot of foreign authors--especially those in Eastern Europe and Latin America--are quite bold and experimental in their writing. They're attempting things that most American authors would never even try. It's as if a renaissance is going on and all of the possibilities of fiction are open to foreign writers. So, my second reason why people should read world literature is simply because so much of it is so damn good.
Q: How does quantity and quality of translations in America compare to the rest of the world? How do you account for these differences?
In comparison to most other countries, the American scene for translations is abysmal. Over the past couple of years editors from Dalkey have traveled to a number of countries in search of authors we should translate. In Germany, in France, in the Netherlands, the percentage of adult literature published in translation far exceeds 0.4%, which is what it was here in 2004 based on your statistic above. And even though a lot of people in the UK would disagree with me, I think UK publishers are doing more works in translation than their American counterparts. I don't know that there's one single reason for this difference. Part of it is historical--publishers in these countries always felt it was necessary to do books from other countries, and despite economic pressures, continue to do so. For instance, German publishers do a lot of translations of Hungarian novels. I can't imagine that Hungarian books are the bread and butter for a German publishing house, but although a number of German publishers echoed the American sentiment that translations don't sell, they feel that publishing literature in translation is still a worthy venture. Furthermore, media coverage of books in other countries--especially members of the EU--is more receptive to works in translation.
Q: In an article in Context #16, John O’Brien mentions several common myths that people from around the world seem to have about the U.S. marketplace. He says one of the myths is that the U.S. represents a “vast readership for literary novels.” Did the Dalkey authors participating in RTW have these illusions about how their works would do in America? Also, what have they thought of the RTW program?
It really depends on the author's past experiences. What John O'Brien says is absolutely true, and applies to both foreign publishers and foreign authors. They think that since the U.S. is such a large, wealthy country, we should be able to sell a ton of copies of a literary work in translation. This just isn't true. The audience isn't that large for complicated literary fiction from an American author, much less an unknown foreign author. Excluding Cabrera Infante, who never found out about this program, the Dalkey authors included in RTW are all honored to be a part of it. Both Ugresic and Alexievich have had books published in English before and are aware of the difficulties in promoting literature in translation in the States. The list of included authors is impressive--Rilke to Marias to Gombrowicz to Kertesz. They're both impressed that so many booksellers and readers are taking an interest in their works because of this program. And thanks to people like you, the coverage has been spectacular and only emphasizes the pre-existing desire for such a program.
Q: In the same article, O’Brien also says that the typical cost of publishing a translation is $30,000, and that only 5-10% of that is the cost of translation. Does that mean that the cost of publishing a work in translation is roughly the same as a work in English, or are their other hidden costs that aren’t associated with non-translated books?
It's true that it costs about $30,000 to publish a translation and that the actual translation is just a small percentage of that total. The hidden costs come in trying to recoup this money. In general, translations aren't as widely reviewed or ordered as books by American authors. In order to break even, publishers have to either cut corners, trying to publish the book as cheaply as possible, even if that means only 600 people will read it, or find innovative new ways to market the book so that it can find its audience. Marketing a translation can cost a lot more than marketing an American title and without any support for a given translation, this can amount to a pretty significant "hidden cost." The $30,000 figure includes marketing expenses, but to reach the largest readership possible, this number would have to be even higher. The best situation imaginable is that a press has funding (from a government or individual) covering not just the translation itself, but a heathy marketing budget. That way the publisher can afford to try things, to get the book out to as many readers as possible, thus truly developing an audience for that work.
Q: How much responsibility should foreign governments and associations assume for getting works translated into English? How much should be borne by Americans?
Most publishers will tell you that publishing translations is a losing proposition. It's almost impossible to break even through sales, and they take a lot more staff time to uncover, translate, edit, and market. Left to its own devices, the marketplace works against the publication of literary translations, except for Nobel Prize winners and that rare translation that catches Oprah's eye. Both foreign governments/associations/foundations and American ones should help solve this dilemma. Practically speaking though, I think it would be easier and more effective to work with a foreign government to increase translations of books from their country. The real question is how they could do this. If they're inventive, foreign governments can really impact this situation, and should, assuming they place a high value on spreading awareness of their culture. What they have to realize is that, as mentioned above, the actual translation costs are a small percentage of the total cost of publishing a translation. By strategically funding the appropriate publishers in appropriate and useful ways (editorial trips to their country, helping fund foreign language editorial internships, helping to establish a "series" of books from their country, assisting with marketing costs, etc.) certain publishers would not only publish more books from a given country, but do a much better job getting the word out about these books.
Q: I imagine that the primary goal of RTW is to sell a lot of works in translation. How else would you define success? Just to raise awareness of works in translation? To encourage publishers and readers to put more effort toward international books?
I don't think our goal is necessarily to sell a lot more copies of our translated titles. Hopefully we will, but the real point is to expose readers. Although there are some signs that the times are changing, most translations don't receive the media exposure that books written in English do. It's easy for book review editors to say that their readers aren't interested in obscure authors from country X. (Authors that are primarily obscure because they aren't reviewed by publication Y, but that's beside the point.) But readers are just as interested in literary translations as they are in literary fiction from American, British, or Irish authors. It's just difficult for them to find out about contemporary literature from country X. The Reading the World program is just one of several activities trying to increase awareness of literature in translation. Thanks to great booksellers and great publishers, this project has been successful so far, in terms of at least talking about the issue. A lot of participants in RTW value literary translations and have complained about the way they are treated in this country--rarely published and frequently ignored--and RTW has provided a vehicle for all of us to talk about this and try and have a small impact on the culture at large. Also, I should say that the successes PEN has had with the World Voices Festival last month and World in Translation Month has paved the way for RTW. And that RTW will definitely be successful if we're able to build on what's happening this year, expand it next year, and make it a truly annual project.
Q: In an editorial, WBUR Arts praised RTW’s efforts and goals, but called the enterprise Quixotic. Is it?
In a way, I can agree with Bill Marx . . . if you assume that everyone involved with RTW is trying to create a legion of translation reading fans with the goal of usurping the DA VINCI CODE from the top spot of the best-seller list. As I said above, the goal is to start a conversation. Get a few people to think about literature from other countries. And to read a few books. RTW won't change the world, but it's an admirable start, and everyone who's involved has the most honorable of intentions in wanting to spread the word about something they believe in. (OK, maybe this sounds a little Quixotic, but so be it.)
Q: Lastly, I’d like to ask what works in translation you’ve been enjoying recently. New or old, just some recommendations for people who want to get some good books.
The new Julio Cortazar book from Archipelago THE DIARY OF ANDRES FAVA is interesting, although HOPSCOTCH and 62: A MODEL KIT are the absolute best Cortazar books. Another amazing author I discovered just a couple years ago is Antonio Lobo Antunes. All of the books Grove has published are great, but THE ACT OF THE DAMNED is my favorite. In terms of Dalkey books, Patrik Ourednik's EUROPEANA is amazing, as is Ivan Angelo's THE CELEBRATION. And although I haven't read it yet, I'm really excited that Northwestern finally brought out Borislav Pekic's HOW TO QUIET A VAMPIRE. I'd also highly recommend Javier Marias's DARK BACK OF TIME. (What's funny to me about that book is that there's a stray reference to Illinois State University, which is where Dalkey Archive is based.)
________________________________________________________________________
Further resources:
- Powell's RTW page with that store's featured works in translation
- Coverage of RTW at Chekhov's Mistress
- Coverage of RTW at the Complete Review
