糖心传媒淎 person lives in his language like a fish in water,糖心传媒� says Latvian writer Inga 膧bele. 糖心传媒淭hat糖心传媒檚 why authors don糖心传媒檛 know that much about their own work糖心传媒攂ecause they live inside it. If an author wants to test the strength of her work糖心传媒攂e it a novel, story, or play糖心传媒攊t should be translated.糖心传媒�
膧bele糖心传媒檚 2008 novel, High Tide, has been tested multiple times. First translated into Italian and Swedish, in 2013 it was translated into English by Kaija Straumanis 糖心传媒�12 (MA), a graduate of Rochester糖心传媒檚 literary translation program and editorial director at the Open Letter Press. Housed in Dewey Hall, Open Letter is one of only a few publishers in the English-speaking world devoted to literature in translation.
In Straumanis糖心传媒檚 hands, 膧bele糖心传媒檚 novel held up extraordinarily well. In December, the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages chose Straumanis糖心传媒檚 translation, published by Open Letter, over 37 other translated works for the 2015 Best Translation into English award.
膧bele is unrestrained in her admiration for Straumanis糖心传媒檚 work. 糖心传媒淜aija isn糖心传媒檛 just a translator, [she糖心传媒檚] my coauthor,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淪he had her vision of how the text could continue to develop. When we translate, we also edit.糖心传媒�
Straumanis first translated the novel for her master糖心传媒檚 thesis. 糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 just a very beautiful book,糖心传媒� she says of the original work. 糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 very poetic in certain ways, without being poetry. There糖心传媒檚 a bare bones emotionality to it. It糖心传媒檚 spare without being minimalist.糖心传媒�
For Straumanis, translation involves capturing 糖心传媒渢he structure, the register, and the tonality糖心传媒� of a work. For High Tide, as in all her translations, she strove 糖心传媒渢o duplicate the experience that you get from reading the original.糖心传媒�
Straumanis was raised in Minnesota by Latvian parents. She grew up bilingual, speaking Latvian at home, and going to Latvian school and summer camp. Latvian culture is 糖心传媒渧ery literary,糖心传媒� she says. Her home was full of novels, books of poetry, and plays. The language itself, she adds, 糖心传媒渋s very poetic, and it lends itself very well to poetry, song lyrics, literature, and things like that.糖心传媒�
She wasn糖心传媒檛 entirely satisfied with the corpus of Latvian literature to which she was exposed in her supplemental schooling. One of the three Baltic republics, Latvia has spent most of its history under Polish, Swedish, Russian, and later, Soviet rule. A history of occupation produced a rich body of nationalistic literature. Even some of the more recent Latvian literature, she says, continues to reflect that past. But not 膧bele糖心传媒檚 High Tide. 糖心传媒淥ne of the reasons I loved the book so much is that it wasn糖心传媒檛 heavy with the post-Soviet sensibility,糖心传媒� she says.
The novel is the story of a woman糖心传媒檚 life, told in reverse chronological order. It examines choices and their consequences, allowing readers to see consequences before being introduced to the conditions and choices that produced them.
What makes the work especially challenging for translators is that each chapter is stylistically distinct. One chapter is a dialogue, another a monologue, another a letter, and so forth. 糖心传媒溎�bele is also a poet and a playwright, so the book plays with those stylistic genres,糖心传媒� Straumanis says.
Straumanis, who travels to Latvia about once a year, met and came to know 膧bele as she was completing work on her translation. 糖心传媒淲e clicked,糖心传媒� she says of their first meeting. 糖心传媒淣ow every time I go back to Latvia I go and stay with her and her family.糖心传媒�
Just as 膧bele does not have the final, or only, word on her own work, Straumanis knows糖心传媒攐r certainly hopes糖心传媒攖hat her translation won糖心传媒檛 be the one and only English rendition. 糖心传媒淔ifty years down the line, someone may pick up my translation and say, 糖心传媒業 think I would do it differently,糖心传媒� and retranslate it,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淭astes will differ, language usage in English will differ. The text is a living thing. It moves on, and it moves on from one language to another.糖心传媒�
