Multiples: 12 Stories in 18 Languages by 61 Authors

by Adam Thirlwell (Editor), Zadie Smith (Contributor), Alejandro Zambra (Contributor)

Like Chinese whispers, the rules of this literary game are simple: the first writer translates an unknown story into English, which a second writer then translates into a different language, and a third translates back into English, and so on, down the line. As the stories are told and retold, out of English and in again, they are transformed, twisted and turned into something new. Featuring an all-star international line-up of writers from Zadie Smith to Alejandro Zambra, via Jeffrey Eugenides, Laurent Binet, Javier Marias, David Mitchell, Colm Toibin, Etgar Keret and Sheila Heti, this collection is pure literary entertainment. Playful, provocative and wilfully inventive, Multiples asks fascinating questions about the relationship between a translation and a version, about the art of storytelling, and about the way that our individual linguistic choices reflect our shared cultural prejudices. Here, we see not so much what is lost in translation, but what is found.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Literary Fiction

448 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2012

About the author

Adam Thirlwell was born in 1978 and grew up in North London. He is a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford and assistant editor of Areté magazine.

His first novel, 'Politics', a love story with digressions, was published in 2003, and his second book, 'Miss Herbert: A Book of Novels, Romances & Their Unknown Translators, Containing Ten Languages, Set on Four Continents & Accompanied by Maps, Portraits, Squiggles, Illustrations, & a Variety of Helpful Indexes', in 2007. 'Miss Herbert' won a 2008 Somerset Maugham Award. His third novel is 'The Escape' (2009).

In 2003, Adam Thirlwell was named by Granta magazine as one of twenty 'Best of Young British novelists'. He lives in Oxford.

Reviews

[nelkku · Rating 3 out of 5]

It feels like this whole book is one big, sincere plea to please pay your translators a living wage. (which, yeah. Translation is hard. Please pay your translators a living wage.)

[Lee Cross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting book in general, worth reading you have the time and the interest in the art of translation, with the short stories themselves being good to boot.

[Heiko Idensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Der multiple Roman (German Edition)
by Adam Thirlwell

Wunderbare Theorie-Fiktionen mit wild ausgesuchten literarischen Beispielen ...
meine Highlight sammeln sich mit der Zeit hier:
https://kindle.amazon.com/work/der-mu...

* wonderful theory.fictions - - dc y                   with a lot of pential and maclr gaf d ,,,

[Paula Corker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting concept so pleased I read it, but found it hard to follow as a bedtime read.

[Attila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short-stories and essays are translated into English, then into a foreign language, then back to English, then to another foreign language, then back to English... Some translators do their best to be faithful to the original, others adapt it subtly to their own culture, and there are some who completely rewrite the original. After each story there are comments and observations. Recommended for everyone who is interested in the work and methods of translators.

[Elie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting as a concept, but didn't work for me at all. Also I hope that no-one thinks this is how literary translators really operate...

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun concept that is not as not as interesting as it should be, given the quality of the writers involved (in fact getting all these writers on board is probably the main achievement). It involves multiple translations back and forth across languages and the 'game' is to see how much the original story transforms. Some of the writers are not fluent in the language they translate from and never aim for 'accuracy', so although some stories don't change much at all, others end up vastly different and it becomes an exercise in seeing how individual styles and approaches can imprint themselves.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great concept, occasionally frustrating execution.

[Ever Roman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Es muy interesante, aunque hacia el final se vuelve confuso e incluso pueril. De todas formas, es un libro interesante

[Isabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book has an interesting take on the translation of literature and how this changes it’s meanings. However, I often found myself not being able to appreciate the differences in meaning as I am only able to read the English and Chinese translations. Hence, I feel like I could not appreciate the real differences.