New Words #19: “A Nice Hobby”

I mean, come on.

I’m back from the ALTA and ATA conferences, where I learned a lot, shared a bunch, and enjoyed spending time with colleagues and friends I’d only interacted with via screens. It was great! I also met several grad students pursuing PhDs in language/literature programs, and I was curious about the kind of support their universities showed for their interest in literary translation. Nearly all of their answers were dispiritingly familiar: much like my advisor over two decades ago, most of their professors have told them that literary translation “sounds like a nice hobby” but is fundamentally unrelated to their area of study.

I was genuinely hopeful that attitudes toward literary translation had improved in the last generation, because there are signs of progress in some corners of academia. A growing number of universities either offer an MFA in literary translation or make certificates or courses in literary translation available within creative writing programs. The American Literary Translators Association recently issued new guidelines, endorsed by several other professional associations, urging academic institutions to give equal weight to literary translation and other forms of academic production in their hiring and tenure decisions.

So it’s disheartening to hear from some current grad students that their interest in literary translation is still viewed by faculty as a distraction from their “real” academic pursuits because all their time should be spent on deep reading and analysis. To be blunt, it is galling to hear that argument from the same people who collectively assign upwards of a thousand pages of reading per week, and I have to believe this attitude stems from a misunderstanding of what translation entails. Grad school taught me to skim; translation is what taught me to read deeply and thoughtfully.

A Humble Suggestion

In each newsletter, I’ll offer at least one recommendation for your reading, watching, or listening pleasure. This time: two new films that made me cry for very different reasons.

Anatomie d’une chute (Anatomy of a Fall), the Palme d’Or–winning new courtroom drama from French director Justine Triet, begins when a man is found dead outside his chalet in the French Alps, beneath the open window of the attic space he was renovating. While forensic investigators argue over whether he fell, jumped, or was pushed, his wife (Sandra Hüller) is charged with his murder, and the trial—which plays out in a mixture of French and English, the defendant being insecure about her proficiency in French—reveals the fissures in their marriage and the precarity of her husband’s mental health. Don’t walk into this film casually, but if you are prepared for its tension and emotional brutality, you’ll be rewarded with an exceptionally well-written thriller. Hüller deserves all the praise she has gotten for her lead performance, and Milo Machado-Graner, who plays the couple’s son, is the most gifted child actor I’ve seen in ages. Currently in theaters in the US.

Set in an Irish-speaking community in County Waterford, Róise & Frank is a lovely, gentle comedy-drama about a grieving widow and the stray dog who leads her back into the everyday life of her community. Róise just wants to be left alone, but a little brown mutt follows her home one day and makes himself comfortable in her late husband’s favorite chair. Unperturbed by her anger, he proceeds to demonstrate that he knows Frank’s favorite picnic spot, is obsessed with Frank’s favorite sport, knows where Frank is buried, loves Frank’s mom, hates Frank’s least favorite neighbor . . . So, the dog is Frank, right? In the US, Róise & Frank is currently available for rent or purchase on Amazon Prime Video. It’s also part of the in-flight entertainment on American Airlines at the moment! You can have a good cry at 35,000 feet on the way to your holiday gatherings!

Self-Promotion Corner

Halloween is behind us, but stories about haunted houses aren’t limited to just one season. I have a flash piece in the new issue of SoFloPoJo about a house that might be haunted—or maybe the house is the one doing the haunting. If you happen to be reading this newsletter shortly after it comes out, join me and my fellow contributors for a Zoom reading on Friday, November 17, at 7 p.m. Eastern (registration here).

Here, Look at My Cats

The world is a mess, and you might welcome a pleasant distraction. For what it’s worth, here are my cats.

These two probably don’t have a future in competitive synchronized napping.

See you back here soon!

Laura