The World in Words 21: Translating the untranslatable, and Mel Brooks and the Odessa connection
Forget tough love, how about tough translation? We ask a translator of recently-deceased novelist David Foster Wallace how he rendered Infinite Jest into German. Then a segment on translating poetry, and the message seems to be: go ahead and mess with the meaning, but don’t rupture the rhythm. Then a take on war zone translators from Dexter Filkins of the New York Times. Finally, a trip to Odessa, alleged spiritual home of Jewish Humor.
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