April 27, 2005

Bad translation?

I just heard a brief interview with French author Frederic Beigbeder and the translator, Frank Wynne, of Beigbeder's novel about 9/11 Windows on the World on BBC World Service. The novel was recently announced as having won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. The author and translator -- who hadn't met until now, having collaborated entirely by phone and e-mail -- will split the £10,000 prize equally. When asked what it was like working with a translator, Beigbeder -- whose English was excellent -- said: "I speak very bad English, but I can read Frank's work." For a second there, I wondered whether Wynne was being praised or panned.

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Posted by Eric Bakovic at April 27, 2005 10:13 PM