Projects 2013 > Book Kernel > Journal
ABOUT BOOKS and about translation
A book makes its reader believe he/she owns a fragment of language, or at least during the reading time. Beware of this belief.
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A book is a frozen flow of language. It is up to the reader to defrost it. Beware of frostbite.
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Bookin French (livre) almost sounds like free (libre), unsurprisingly since they share the same Latin etymology. A book makes one free or, rather,couldmake one free just like it can cause imprisonment or even bring death. One should never forget such a risk when reading a book. Beware of the (French) etymology.
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You flee the world by opening a book and taking refuge in this second world. But in it, nothing can be modified; you are merely a powerless spectator. At the same time, you are holding the ultimate power: you close the book, you shut down a world.
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Never let a film steal your vision of a book.
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A reader must know how to read in order to read a book. Why does not the same rule apply to writers?
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A good translation has to be a forgery or a pastiche, never a mere copy.
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One does not translate from a given language into another one but always between languages.
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Who is the author of a translated book? The original writer? The translator? It is safer to bet on the reader.
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A translation has the advantage over the original of sharing the burden of authorship with all other translations.
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The stuff translation is made of is as much history as language.
Alexis Nouss
‘Books and Print’ - January 2013.
Posted by Alexis Nuselovici
