On Translation: Reflections and Conversations (review)

Abstract

Edmund Keeley's On Translation: Reflections and Conversations is a selection of four essays and five interviews, spanning the years 1972 to 1995. The publication date of 2000 commemorates Keeley's fiftieth anniversary as a translator—since, as the author tells us, he began his career almost by accident in 1950 while writing his dissertation on Modern Greek poetry at Oxford and needed sample texts for readers who knew no Greek. The selections, involved with the "craft and commerce" of translation, generally stand in their original form, with updates to reflect recent developments or to bolster an argument. Nevertheless, Keeley points out "the relative consistency of [his] attitude toward the craft of translation and even of what in [his] case are its primary subject, the poets of Modern Greece" (x). It is not surprising, therefore, that a number of themes emerge in the course of the volume's lively mix of biographical details from Keeley's experience as a teacher (primarily at Princeton) and as an activist in translation issues (with the Translation Committee of the PEN American Center and with the American Literary Translators Association). Most important, On Translation offers Keeley's insights about poets who, mainly through his own efforts, have come to represent Modern Greece to the outside world—insights that only the "quotidian" but sometimes "inspired" (Keeley's own terms) process of translation could provide.