Have you read Paolo Cognetti’s latest novel? And the widely acclaimed A ghost in the throat by Doireann Ni Ghriofa? Do you know Heritage of the French ‘prodigy’ Miguel Bonnefoy? The books are on the long list of the European Literature Prize, which will be awarded for the twelfth time this year.
From Friday 29 April, thirteen nominees will travel through the country for a month to talk about their work – from Leeuwarden to Groningen, Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The writers? No, their translators, because they too are awarded. After all, they determine how Cognetti, Ní Ghríofa and Bonnefoy sound in Dutch. The jury’s verdict, chaired by Manon Uphoff, is partly based on their word choices and their language finds.
But would you also know their names?
I can imagine not and that is not surprising. Translators are virtually invisible to readers. In reviews, attention to their work is by no means self-evident. They seldom take center stage at literary events – except during the Translator’s Happiness Tour in May. And their name is often not even on the cover.
Translators Martin de Haan and Annemart Pilon want to put an end to the latter. They recently started the petition ‘Translators on the cover’in which they ask publishers to – well, the title says it all. De Arbeiderspers does it, just like Oevers and Lebowski, for example, but by no means everyone.
Why is it so important for translators to be visible? Translation is a servant profession, isn’t it? Isn’t invisibility just an aspiration?
‘Translators play a crucial role in the book trade, but they receive little appreciation for that,’ says Pilon. ‘The work is held in low esteem and still pays poorly; 7 cents per word is now the minimum rate. Of course you won’t solve those problems with a name on the cover, but I do think it is of great symbolic value. According to the Copyright Act we are co-authors of our translations, but readers rarely think about it.’
That is a shame, and not just for the translators themselves. Any reader of foreign literature knows that a mediocre translation can spoil the reading pleasure – and vice versa. That is also why it is important to put translators on the cover: so that you as a reader know immediately where you stand. You know it’s all right with Cognetti’s translators Yond Boeke and Patty Krone, as with Caroline Meijer (Ní Ghríofa) and Liesbeth van Nes (Bonnefoy). Their names are a hallmark, a guarantee of quality.
So sign that petition. And remember those names.