enjoyed itself. In fact, nothing would make me happier than if this book were to lead readers to try their hands at translation themselves. Nothing I could say would better show how difficult and enjoyable translation is.
There are a lot of common misconceptions, not to mention a good number of real obstacles and a touch of laziness, that have stood in the way of the enjoyment of literary translation. I will try to remove some of the obstacles and show why and in what way the misconceptions are misconceived. And I will also show how the recent decline in literary translation reflects serious changes in the way our intellectual culture views literature, especially poetry. For the most part, I will rely on what translators have written and have told me in dozens of interviews. But I’ll also get my two cents in.
Since no one can give translators a stage on which to give their performances, my goal is to give them an audience.
