THE NEW TRANSAMERICA; or, LESS TRANS-FAT, MORE TRANSLATIONS

from esther allen, former director of the PEN translation fund, quoted in the article "translation as literary ambassador" from yesterday's new york times: “There is still a very entrenched attitude on the part of mainstream commercial houses that the U.S. consumer of books does not want to read translations.”

unfortunately, we know this. (a less confusing "we" this time: you and me. and you because i've been telling you so.) as the article also states, literature in translation only accounts for about three percent of the total book market in the united states. as someone who reads mostly works in translation, i feel disgustingly underserved. as someone looking for a modest sinecure at an outlet seriously involved in the publishing of new translated literature, i feel that an underserved and undervalued market is severely hampering my employment opportunities.

encouragingly, the times article is principally about efforts on the part of foreign governments and cultural institutions to help authors writing in less commonly translated languages get their works translated into english and break onto the american literary scene, a phenomenon typified by the SUR in argentina that looked oh so good in pants here (both the times and i recognized mr. steig larsson as a runaway exception to the norm).

“We have established this as a strategic objective, a long-term commitment to break through the American market,” said Corina Suteu, who leads the New York branch of the European Union National Institutes for Culture and directs the Romanian Cultural Institute. “For nations in Europe, be they small or large, literature will always be one of the keys of their cultural existence, and we recognize that this is the only way we are going to be able to make that literature present in the United States.”

the article doesn't include any statistical projections for the success of the different efforts it describes, but it does waft an air of optimism. it even mentions that late october tiff between melville house and amazon (which this year started its own imprint for literature in translation) over amazon's newly announced underwriting of the best translated book prize. it's an exciting -- and hopefully accepting -- time for publishing. the greater war may be between digital and print, but it's these overlooked fronts of voice, identity and unique artistry that really stir the blood and spur us to the fight.

it seems that many new translations are collaborations not just between authors, translators and publishers, but also (as per a quote by john o'brien of dalkey archive) between publishers and "consulates, embassies and [foreign] book institutes." that is so great. my question: why haven't the embassy, consulates and book institutes of japan been in touch? there's work to be done! but the awful feedback cycle of a down economy means that the underemployed are never able to keep their publicists on for much more than half time...

if you don't already follow words without borders and open letter books, you should get on that. and put in a good word, would you?