Spotlight on Translation: April Edition

Spotlight on Translation: April

In this, our second monthly spotlight, you’ll find reviews of experimental novels and thrillers translated from Spanish, French, Italian, and Russian, of poetry translated from German, of a Croatian scholar’s mediation on the historical significance of bread, and of a new collection of political writings by Frantz Fanon, along with a new story translated from the Armenian. The spotlight also features an essay that, indirectly, testifies to what translation allows: a fruitful, mutually enlightening comparison of works originally written in two languages and translated into a third.

— Boris Dralyuk, Editor-in-Chief

This digest is part of our year-round celebration of our 10th anniversary. To celebrate with us, please visit our anniversary page!

Love and the Literary Leviathan: On Pola Oloixarac’s “Mona”
Yxta Maya Murray dives into the recent English-language translation of Pola Oloixarac’s “Mona.”
Mar 16, 2021
Revenge: A User’s Manual
Is capitalist society nothing more than a series of random acts of senseless violence?
Mar 20, 2021
About a Girl: On Sergio Olguín’s “The Foreign Girls”
Collin Mitchell reviews “The Foreign Girls,” Argentine writer Sergio Olguín’s latest mystery.
Apr 2, 2021
Unnurtured and Unloved: On Andrea Bajani’s “If You Kept a Record of Sins”
A superb new English translation of a celebrated contemporary Italian novel out now from Achipelago.
Mar 31, 2021
Dicey Forms: On Durs Grünbein’s “Porcelain”
Alexander Wells considers “Porcelain,” the recently translated poetry collection by Durs Grünbein.
Apr 7, 2021
Remember the Bread
A major Yugoslav scholar examines the way the bread we eat becomes a vehicle for human relations.
Mar 26, 2021
Fanon Can’t Save You Now
Todd Cronan looks at “The Political Writings from Alienation and Freedom” by Frantz Fanon, edited by Jean Khalfa and Robert J. C. Young.
Mar 22, 2021
It Will Always Be Sung
In memory of Alen, not written as a memory. Certain things try to create his existence. There are only his tiny lights — hanging on the mirrors...
Mar 25, 2021
Written in the Face: On Sergei Lebedev’s “Untraceable”
Robyn Jensen tracks down Sergei Lebedev’s “Untraceable,” a novel centering on a deadly nerve toxin, translated from the Russian by Antonina W. Bouis.
Apr 9, 2021
The Poetics of Metamorphosis
Samanta Schweblin and Anna Starobinets are two of the most original horror writers active today.
Apr 10, 2021