Translating Neruda - by John Felstiner (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

What goes into the translating of a poem? Usually that process gets forgotten once the new poem stands intact in translation. Yet a verse translation derives from historical, biographical, and philosophical research, interpretive analysis of the original poem, and continuous linguistic and prosodic choices that parallel those the poet made. Taking as a text Pablo Neruda's brilliant prophetic sequence Alturas de Macchu Picchu (1945), the author here re-creates the entire process of translation, from his first encounter with the poem to the last shaping of a phrase that may never come right in English. This many-faceted book forms an essay on the theory and practice of literary translation, a study of Neruda's career through 1945, and an interpretation of his major poem, all of which lead to a striking new poem in English, Heights of Macchu Picchu, printed along with the original Spanish. This genesis of a verse translation also includes little-known biographical data, hitherto untranslated poems and prose from the years 1920 to 1945, and new translations of key poems from Neruda's Residence on Earth and Spain in My Heart.

From the Back Cover

What goes into the translating of a poem? Usually that process gets
forgotten once the new poem stands intact in translation. Yet a verse
translation derives from historical, biographical, and philosophical
research, interpretive analysis of the original poem, and continuous
linguistic and prosodic choices that parallel those the poet made. Taking as a text Pablo Neruda's brilliant prophetic sequence Alturas de
Macchu Picchu

(1945), the author here re-creates the entire process of
translation, from his first encounter with the poem to the last shaping of
a phrase that may never come right in English. This many-faceted book
forms an essay on the theory and practice of literary translation, a study
of Neruda's career through 1945, and an interpretation of his major poem, all of which lead to a striking new poem in English, Heights of Macchu Picchu

, printed along with the original Spanish. This genesis of a verse translation also includes little-known biographical data, hitherto untranslated poems and prose from the years 1920 to 1945, and new translations of key poems from Neruda's Residence on Earth

and Spain in My Heart

.

About the Author

John Felstiner is Professor of English at Stanford University