Apologies, everyone – I did say ‘WiFi & eeePc permitting’ & as it turns out, they didn’t. The first instalment of my impressions of Berlin and Leipzig can be found below. The second will follow asap, now that I’m back at a PC – as will, courtesy of fellow participants – some photographs.
LCB (photo: ana)
SUNDAY
Due to land 17.45. Maybe I did.
I landed in SNOW.
Hints of Spring all week in Glasgow. Snow in Berlin.
Train to Lichtenberg, S-Bahn to Friedrichstrasse, another to Wannsee. Arrive in time for dinner. 57, maybe, of the 60 translators invited – after being welcomed by Katja Lange-Müller (Böse Schafe) – have just spent a couple of hours introducing themselves: die grosse Vorstellungsrunde.
LCB sign (photo: ana)
A Wiedersehen with Jürgen Becker, whom I know from the Sommerakademie last August. Memories of the smaller group of translators back then – a great bunch.
First person I spot this time: Hans-Christian Oeser who read at an academic conference in Limerick the weekend of Princess Diana’s funeral all those years ago.
I eat with George from Georgia – and Igor Mokin, an editor at Inostrannaja Literatura – a Russian magazine that survived the political changes of twenty years ago and that focuses, still, on foreign literature. George, not Igor, tells me how good it is.
That great unexpected bonus of speaking German: using it to speak to people from all over the world. Not relying lazily on the rest of the world’s English.
Reunion with Katy Derbyshire – who blogs at lovegermanbooks.blogspot.com – for whom I read at Translators reveal all / Übersetzer packen aus at the Literaturwerkstatt a couple of years ago.
60 translators from 36 countries in 5 hotels in Charlottenburg. It all kicks off properly tomorrow.
frozen Wannsee (photo: jamie)
MONDAY
The knowledge that some fellow translators must also be in the Breakfast Room – but no familiar faces from last night.
Out to Wannsee. The goody-bag that awaits us: Katja’s Böse Schafe – plus the latest books by Sibylle Lewitscharoff (Apostoloff), Wilhelm Genazino (Das Glück in glücksfernen Zeiten), Maria Cecilia Barbetta (Änderungsschneiderei Los Milagros), Abbas Khider (Der falsche Inder), David Wagner (Vier Äpfel), Lutz Seiler (Die Zeitwaage), Arno Geiger (Alles über Sally), Dirk Kurbjuweit (Nicht die ganze Wahrheit) – and the anthology Laute Verse, ed. by Thomas Geiger: 24 young poets, 20 years after the Wende, a book I so much wanted. Oh – and Leipzig liest, the progamme of the Book Fair, a paperback book in its own right at 432pp.
I’m thrilled to bits. It’s not just the books – they’re all going to be reading to us. That said: guess who’s here with hand-luggage only?
The first talk sets a high standard. Burkhard Müller: 3 x Nobel oder Wo steht die deutsche Literatur heute? The guy’s good: structured, concise, well-informed, I’m thinking – and that’s before I realise he’s NOT got a script in front of him. His take on Grass getting the Nobel in 1990 – for work, really, that was published decades earlier), Jelinek in 2004 (her attacks on Austria as a form of patriotism) and Herta in 2009 (der Rand als neue Mitte).
His take on the Grossschriftsteller(Innen) – Grass, Wolf, Enzensberger: their best books appeared years ago; their most recent work not as good. And what of the Grosskritiker? – someone asks from the floor. MRR is also written off.
The regret that some younger writers are not as challenging as they might be. That the novel’s still where it was in the 19th century. That what’s being written now isn’t innovative in terms of language or aesthetic approach. The anticipation that authors ‘mit Migrationshintergrund’ will be even more important in the future.
Loads of questions follow: on different aspects of what Burkhard had to say. As was also the case last summer: great commitment / passion / knowledge displayed by fellow translators. Again: a privilege to be here. Again, the question in my head: is Scotland doing this for translators of our writing? Is Britain doing this for British writing? Or is the focus just on agents?
Before lunch, Sibylle Lewitscharoff, introduced by her Bulgarian translator, reads from Apostoloff. A critical take on her Bulgarian background which caused quite a stir in Bulgaria. Winner of the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in ’09. The author has recorded her own audio book – and you can hear why.
After lunch, Katy Derbyshire argues that German publishers aren’t making the best possible use of the Internet. That German-language blogs are tame, compared to their British and American counterparts. She takes us through examples. The trick, clearly, is to include audio and video files; to offer users the chance to respond.
Late afternoon, short presentations from those responsible means we hear about how the Robert Bosch Stiftung, the Goethe Institute, litrix.de and the Internationales Theater Institut can all support translators.
In the evening, Wilhelm Genazino reads from Das Glück in glücksfernen Zeiten. The reading itself has us laughing. The discussion that follows (with the chair) presents a Frauenbild, a Männerbild, and even a Vaterbild, that — Let’s just say: discussion was certainly lively on the train back.
LCB (photo: jamie)
TUESDAY
Two workshops – and you have to choose: Laute Verse with Marion Poschmann and Monika Rinck (who’ll be reading at StAnza – Scotland’s Poetry Festival – later this week); or Poetik der Migration with Maria Cecilia Barbetta (born in Argentina) and Abbas Khider (born in Iraq). I end up in the latter (a long story)- but what luck! Cecilia does a great job presenting Änderungs-schneiderei Los Milagors. A beautifully designed book, I see from my neighbour’s copy. Abbas, for me, is better still. Der falsche Inder: I can’t wait to read it. Both authors were brilliant on the subject of how they learned German. Of how they write in a (for them) foreign language. Writing as an ‘Entdeckungsreise’. The German language as a ‘Schutz’ (Cecilia). Both long for translators who will write their own versions of the books; who will be just as inventive; Cecilia – whose book includes images that provide the inspiration for the individual chapters – even argued that any translator should replace some of the images. ‘Flügel’- as in (in this case: butterfly) ‘wing’, but also ‘grand piano’ – will clearly not always work in other languages. And nor will ‘Läufer’ as in ‘male runner’, ‘knight’ (the chess figure) and ‘(floor) rug’.
A talk before lunch next: Stephan Speicher of the SZ on ‘Aufarbeitung der Vergangenheit’. His take on the subject surprisingly negative – critical of how long it took German society to admit that ‘jeder’ was responsible; and not just the ‘elites’ that faced trial at the Nuremberg or Auschwitz trials; or the judiciary; or the historians. The suggestion that it took the Wehrmachts-ausstellung to bring home the fact that many ordinary families had members who were also involved or who also ‘profited’. Throughout, Speicher has not just me wondering where what German writers and German film-makers achieved comes into this analysis; also what was achieved in German schools, especially post ’68.
Lunch is delayed by 45 minutes as the floor responds. Helen Moster, from Finland, for example, highlights the complete absence of women from Speicher’s analysis – prompting Speicher to confess to the complete absence of the GDR, also. I could mention that Germany’s response to its past was held up as an example to the UK & Northern Ireland at an ‘Aye Write’ event I attended in Glasgow last week – at which Ruth Dudley Edwards also distinguished (as Stella Rotenberg does) between Germany and Austria. I don’t. I listen instead to the voices and Wortmeldungen that follow – from Macedonia, St Petersburg, Gran Canaria, Madrid, Cairo, Teheran & Dublin. What luxury!
Readings by David Wagner, Lutz Seiler & Arno Geiger were to follow in the afternoon & evening; as were presentations on Traduki, ‘Schritte’ & the S. Fischer Stiftung; on ‘Moving Words’ & ‘Pro Helvetia’; and on the Halma network. I, however, was about to join translator colleagues representing different Goethe institutes in the region of North West Europe, arriving for our study trip to the Leipzig Book Fair.
Lutz Seiler / Jurgen Becker (photo: ana)
Brief introductions at the hotel & we were soon off to the Literaturwerkstatt – where Boris Nitsche told us about the different ways poetry, in particular, is presented there. How it can be ‘translated’ into ‘performance’; into film, even.
His presentation of lyrikonline.de revealed that this project has no English-speaking partner in the UK – astonishing, given the excellent work done in the field of poetry by various organisations and individuals; and the same people’s interest in translation.
With this smaller group – 9 of us representing Amsterdam, Dublin, Glasgow, Helsinki, London, Oslo & Stockholm – it’s back out to the LCB tomorrow. After a visit to Suhrkamp Verlag Berlin, we’ll be on a train to Leipzig – (almost) in time for the opening event.
to be continued
