On translation

On translation April 26, 2017

 

A younger Yevtushenko
The Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko died on 1 April 2017, at the age of 83.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain)

 

This is awfully cynical and quite untrue about women.  But it’s largely true about translation (certainly in any cases of literary translation), and it’s pretty funny:

 

“Translation is like a woman. If it is beautiful, it is not faithful. If it is faithful, it is most certainly not beautiful.”

Yevgeny Yevtushenko

 

 


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