“There can never be an absolutely final translation.”
―
―
“It is the task of the translator to release in his own language that pure language that is under the spell of another, to liberate the language imprisoned in a work in his re-creation of that work.”
― Illuminations: Essays and Reflections
― Illuminations: Essays and Reflections
“So many people consider their work a daily punishment. Whereas I love my work as a translator. Translation is a journey over a sea from one shore to the other. Sometimes I think of myself as a smuggler: I cross the frontier of language with my booty of words, ideas, images, and metaphors.”
― Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio
― Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio
“The word 'translation' comes, etymologically, from the Latin for 'bearing across'. Having been borne across the world, we are translated men. It is normally supposed that something always gets lost in translation; I cling, obstinately to the notion that something can also be gained.”
― Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-1991
― Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-1991
“Simplicities are enormously complex. Consider the sentence "I love you".”
― Writing the Silences
― Writing the Silences
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