Atelier Histoire/Traduction: „José Luis Borges‘ Theory and Practice of Translation“

With: Efrain Kristal (UCLA) This presentation will rehearse Jorge Luis Borges’s views on literary translation  as a process of recreation, and explore Borges’s application of those views in a translation of Max Beerbohm’s “Enoch Soames,” which he published in the Antología de literatura fantástica [Anthology of fantastic literature], a collaborative project of editing and translation with Silvina Ocampo and Adolfo Bioy Casares. It will show that Borges and his collaborators transformed a satirical tale into a work of fantastic literature. This talk will use Roberto Bolaño’s brilliant, but misleading assessment of “Enoch Soames” as a foil to illustrate Borges’s theory and practice of translation. Bolaño called “Enoch Soames” a “perfect story” that could have been written by Borges because he read the translated story in the Antología de literatura fantástica.  While the translation fits his analysis convincingly, the original does not.