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I TOOK SORROW BY THE HAND I took sorrow by the hand, Went to drown it in the river, But the stream was too shallow. Tossed it over my shoulder like a sack, Went to throw it from a cliff top, But the ground was too near. Then I swaddled it in a cradle, Two days and nights I rocked it, But it wouldn’t fall asleep. Now I wander the streets With sorrow on my face: Forgive me, I say to all. E MORA PËR DORE TRISHTIMIN E mora për dore trishtimin, Shkova ta mbys në lumë, Po rrjedha ishte e cekët. E hodha ne krah si hobe, Shkova ta hedh nga shkëmbi Por toka ishte afër. Atëherë e lidha në djep, Dy ditë e net e përkunda, Po gjumi s’e zuri. Tani bares në rrugë Me trishtimin tim në fytyrë: Më falni u them të gjithëve. TO GO AND TO COME BACK To go and to come back, that is the issue. To be absent and not a soul to miss you. To touch the other world and to return again. Here you have forgotten to play, You feel sorry to eat, It hurts you to talk. You have been there and returned A few moments ago. Rush, rush because the evening light is vanishing on the banal dusk. The divine meditations of the world get killed on today’s land. Now we are equal again. TË IKËSH E TË VISH Të ikësh e të vish-kjo është çështja. Të mungosh dhe askush të mos vuajë për ty. Të prekësh botën tjetër dhe të kthehesh. Këtu ti ke harruar të luash, Të vjen keq të hash, Të dhëmb të flasësh. Ti ke qenë atje dhe je kthyer Para pak çastesh. Shpejt, shpejt se drita e mbrëmjes po shuhet në muzgun banal. Mendimet hyjnore të botës vriten në tokën e sotme. Tani jemi prapë të barabartë! Translation Review 53
A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE ON TRANSLATIONS By Peter R. Prifti It is said that translation of literary works is an art in itself. It is also an indispensable activity in the world of publishing. Translation is the vital link that makes communication possible between one language and another, one culture and another, one body of literature and another. The world of literary translations is vast and varied. Its scope or range seems boundless. Even a brief survey of the holdings in any major public library or university is enough to leave one with a sense of wonderment. Think of the numerous translations that have been made of Dante’s Divine Comedy, Goethe’s Faust, Shakespeare’s dramas, and countless other classic works of literature, to say nothing of lesser works. One cannot help but be impressed by the variety of styles employed by different authors in translating a particular literary work. And not only the styles but also the philosophy behind the translation; that is, the guiding concept and the criteria used in translating. There is enough material on these differences to justify writing a bundle of academic studies. Before continuing any further, I suppose it’s proper to raise the age-old question of whether translation is indeed an art, or a bogus enterprise. For it has been said by a cynic that “Translation is what is lost in a literary work in the process of translating,” or words to that effect. In other words, literary translation is not possible. To believe otherwise is self-deception or self-conceit. Well, I have to say that I do not agree with this pessimistic view of translation. I don’t doubt that this assessment holds for mediocre translations, but it definitely is not true of all translations. Respected literary critics tell us that there are many translated works that are as good as the originals. Indeed, some translations, they contend, are “superior” to the original works. Such a claim may seem paradoxical, but it is not far-fetched. For example, Edward Fitzgerald’s translation into English of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat is considered by some, if not all, critics to be better than the original in Persian. The same can be said of certain translations in the Albanian language. Albanian speakers are united in the belief that translations in their language of works of Shakespeare, Longfellow, and Edgar Allen Poe by the late Fan S. Noli, the greatest translator in the history of Albanian letters, sound better in Albanian than they do in English. One can cite other examples from other languages, as well. So much for a prologue to this article. I shall now speak of my own experience as an Albanian-English, English-Albanian translator, an enterprise to which I have devoted many decades. Translating is an activity I have enjoyed doing, even more than engaging in creative writing of my own. It is work that engages me completely, almost as if I was meant to be a translator, above all things. This does not mean that translating is all fun and games for me. Not at all. Like all creative work, at least, for most people, translating has its share of snags, mental blocks, frustration, and pain. In other words, it has its ups and downs, which necessarily slows down the pace of the work. As a result, substantial translations, in my case, almost always take longer to finish than planned. But, like women giving birth to babies, the satisfaction that comes at the end, when the job is done, makes up for all the suffering experienced on the way. What, then, is the process at work when I translate What are the criteria or guidelines that I employ in translating Well, one of them — and I would say, the 54 Translation Review
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Albanian Literatu
Page 5 and 6: Elbasan and spent almost two decade
Page 7 and 8: on several occasions for the Nobel
Page 9 and 10: in the translation of Leonard Fox.
Page 11 and 12: Neither a Wound nor a Song: Poetry
Page 13 and 14: Minnesota: Graywolf Press 2008) 401
Page 15 and 16: IK: Writing is generally a multidim
Page 17 and 18: IK: Translators ought to know both
Page 19 and 20: coming from an isolated Stalinist c
Page 21 and 22: translation of his works. He is qui
Page 23 and 24: Kadare which, on a grander scale, b
Page 25 and 26: ordinary free indirect style, but i
Page 27 and 28: modernization. As students of the l
Page 29 and 30: and deposited in a bank vault in Pa
Page 31 and 32: A R C A D E P U B L I S H I N G P R
Page 33 and 34: the poet Naim Frashëri. His moving
Page 35 and 36: 32 Translation Review
Page 37 and 38: feniks [Phoenix City] in 1970), and
Page 39 and 40: wake of a bad breakup: “You are E
Page 41 and 42: weeks later in Washington, D.C., wo
Page 43 and 44: “O man (owner) of the tower/turre
Page 45 and 46: THE POETIC VISION OF PREÇ ZOGAJ IN
Page 47 and 48: where he graduated in Albanian Lang
Page 49 and 50: down the lines that went through my
Page 51 and 52: philosophy. Being Albanian-born mys
Page 53 and 54: similar social characteristics and
Page 55: COME NEARER, JOYFUL HOUR OF THE POE
Page 59 and 60: the pain and the dark premonition s
Page 61 and 62: TRANSLATING ALBANIAN FOLK POETRY: A
Page 63 and 64: preserving the metrical rhythm, as
Page 65 and 66: available. I believe that some of t
Page 67 and 68: the ancient scrolls were not, after
Page 69 and 70: quarter century, as new worlds have
Page 71 and 72: TRANSLATING GJERGJ FISHTA’S EPIC
Page 73 and 74: (take out “so gently,”) 275 In
Page 75 and 76: BOOK REVIEWS Marku, Rudolf. Allahla
Page 77 and 78: of Albania’s communist oriental-b
Page 79 and 80: There is no prophecy, things happen
Page 81 and 82: writing the book, he lives that pas
Page 83 and 84: Those already weeping In graves Are
Page 85: (Wauconda, Illinois, 2004) and Gjer
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