Play for Two Voices: On Translating the Poetry of Anja Utler

Kurt Beals

doi:10.21992/t9x63v

Abstract

Written in the form of a dialog between translator and translation theorist, this article considers both the difficulty and the necessity of a reciprocal, mutually informed relationship between translation theory and practice. The starting point of the article is my experience translating the poetry of Anja Utler, a contemporary Austrian poet whose linguistic experimentation poses a significant translation challenge. Utler's poetry functions in part by means of what she calls “interweaving” (“Verflechtung”), making use of highly polysemous words to efface boundaries between landscape, body, and language. In addition to blurring semantic lines, Utler also employs certain syntactical and grammatical characteristics of the German language (such as separable prefixes) in unorthodox ways that multiply possibilities of meaning. One of the greatest difficulties for a translator, then, is to find ways of approximating this semantic and syntactic play and innovation in a language that rarely offers a one-to-one equivalent. In addition to addressing specific practical issues in translating Utler's poetry, I consider the role that translation theory played in shaping my translation strategies, and more generally the interaction between the theoretical conceptualization of translation and its actual execution. I also describe my communication with the author, who has contributed greatly to the translation process, supporting an idea of translation as collaboration. Translation theory and practice appear less as correctives to each other than as a cooperative undertaking, part of a conversation between translator, theorist, author, and reader from which, ideally, all sides benefit in the end. By portraying this exchange as an internal dialog, I hope to demonstrate that the realms of translation practice and theory are not alien to one another, but rather engaged in constant, productive exchange, both within the mind of the individual translator/theorist and on the level of translation as a social phenomenon.

Highlights

I (KB, translation theorist) recently sat down with Kurt Beals (KB, translator) in the kitchen of his California home and, over a cup of coffee, asked him some questions about his translation of münden – entzüngeln, a book of poems by the German-born, Vienna-based poet Anja Utler
KB: Let’s start with the question of motivation: What was it about Anja Utler’s work that made you, as a translator, want to take it on? Did you do it for the money, or the fame, or was there something else?
Read her poems, I knew that was something I hadn’t seen before. She often uses punctuation to interrupt a sentence at what seems like the least likely point

Summary

Introduction

I (KB, translation theorist) recently sat down with Kurt Beals (KB, translator) in the kitchen of his California home and, over a cup of coffee, asked him some questions about his translation of münden – entzüngeln, a book of poems by the German-born, Vienna-based poet Anja Utler. KB: I think part of what she’s referring to is the risk of having too much control over the way that a writer is read or perceived; that’s at play to some degree for me in translating Utler too, more English-language readers may have access to German poetry than to Bengali literature.

Results

Conclusion