Gained in Translation

The Star Tribune recently reviewed Stone Upon Stone, an epic novel of life in Poland during and after the Second World War, by Wieslaw Mysliwski. They drew particular attention to the book's verbal artistry: "The life he leads is told in a blast of sentences. Sometimes a character's dialogue goes on and on without paragraph breaks for several pages. This abundance of verbal explosion can get tiring at times, but can also be exhilarating."

How does one bring such a wordy, expressive novel from Polish into English? What is the translator's role in creating (or recreating) an author's style for an audience so removed from the book's original readers? Find out when Bill Johnston, translator of Stone Upon Stone comes to Magers & Quinn. He'll be in the store Thursday, January 20, at 7:30pm. Details on this and all our events are here.--David E