On self-translation : meditations on languages

Finalist for the 2018 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards in the Essay category From award-winning, internationally known scholar and translator Ilan Stavans comes On Self-Translation , a collection of essays and conversations on language in its multifaceted forms. Stavans discusses the way syntax is being restructured by texting and other technologies. He examines how the alphabet itself is being forgotten by the young, how finger snapping has taken on a new meaning, how the use of ellipses has lapsed, and how autocorrect is shaping the way we communicate. In an incisive meditation, he shows how translating one's own work reinvents oneself in another tongue. The volume includes tte--ttes with Pulitzer Prizewinner Richard Wilbur and short-fiction master Lydia Davis, as well as dialogues on silence, multilingualism, poetry, and the durability of the classics. Stavans's explorations cover Spanish, English, Hebrew, Yiddish, and the hybrid lexicon of Spanglish. He muses on the meaning of foreignness and on living and dying in different languages. Among his primary concerns are the role and history of dictionaries and the extent to which the authority of language academies is less a reality than a delusion. He concludes with renditions into Spanglish of portions of Hamlet , Don Quixote , and The Little Prince . The wide range of themes and engaging yet informed style confirm Stavans's status, in the words of the Washington Post , as "Latin America's liveliest and boldest critic and most innovative cultural enthusiast." This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to Knowledge Unlatchedan initiative that provides libraries and institutions with a centralized platform to support OA collections and from leading publishing houses and OA initiatives. Learn more at the Knowledge Unlatched website and access the book online at the SUNY Open Access Repository at . Contents Preface Part I: Meeting The “I” On Self-Translation Part II: Meditations Alphabetizing As It Were Parable of Don Quixote Finger Snapping The Tenure Code Transadaptation Ellipses and I On Clarity Auto-corrected Part III: Beyond Words On Being Misunderstood Part I: The Lecture Part II: The Response Against Representation The Monkey Grammarian Midrash on Truth Don Quixote in Schlemieland Dying in Hebrew The Reading Life of Ricardo Piglia Adiós, Chespirito Part IV: On Fútbol “Sudden Death” Van Persie’s Goal Box of Resonance Part V: Language And Politics Trump and the Wall Why Doesn’t English Have an Academy? Shakespeare in Prison The Spanish Language in Latin America Since Independence Castellano, Español, or Españoles? Andrés Bello: The Philologist’s Task Toward a Modern Tongue The Embattled Real Academia Española: The Question of Regionalisms The Power of Variety Against “Diversity” Rolling One’s R’s Part VI: Conversations The Poet’s Alchemy (with Richard Wilbur) On Silence (with Charles Hatfield) Translating Cervantes (with Diana de Armas Wilson) The Color of Existence (with Ryan Mihaly) The Downpour of Inspiration (with Asymptote) The Translingual Sensibility (with Steven G. Kellman) Rescuing the Classics (with Lydia Davis) Part VII: Onto Spanglish Un Walker En Nuyol [1] From El Gueto [2] To the Subway [3] The Big Wong [4] Is this Queens? [5] Carpe Diem Hamlet, Acto 2, Scene Dos [fragment] and Acto 3, Scene Uno Acto 2, Scene Dos [Fragment] Acto 3, Scene Uno El Little Príncipe, Chapters I–IV Don Quixote, Parte Ii, Chapter 72 Spanglish and The Royal Academy About the Author Index Finalist for the 2018 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards in the Essay categoryFrom award-winning, internationally known scholar and translator Ilan Stavans comes On Self-Translation, a collection of essays and conversations on language in its multifaceted forms. Stavans discusses the way syntax is being restructured by texting and other technologies. He examines how the alphabet itself is being forgotten by the young, how finger snapping has taken on a new meaning, how the use of ellipses has lapsed, and how autocorrect is shaping the way we communicate. In an incisive meditation, he shows how translating one's own work reinvents oneself in another tongue. The volume includes tête-à-têtes with Pulitzer Prize–winner Richard Wilbur and short-fiction master Lydia Davis, as well as dialogues on silence, multilingualism, poetry, and the durability of the classics. Stavans's explorations cover Spanish, English, Hebrew, Yiddish, and the hybrid lexicon of Spanglish. He muses on the meaning of foreignness and on living and dying in different languages. Among his primary concerns are the role and history of dictionaries and the extent to which the authority of language academies is less a reality than a delusion. He concludes with renditions into Spanglish of portions of Hamlet, Don Quixote, and The Little Prince. The wide range of themes and engaging yet informed style confirm Stavans's status, in the words of the Washington Post, as'Latin America's liveliest and boldest critic and most innovative cultural enthusiast.'