Embarrassment of Riches Department

It’s been almost a full year since I last posted on this blog, but I have some news that I think rates more than a Facebook post: I’m going to have three translations published in 2016, all in the spring: in March, Tomáš Zmeškal’s Love Letter in Cuneiform, for the Margellos World Republic of Letters at Yale University Press; in April, Josef Jedlička’s Midway Upon the Journey of Our Life, for Karolinum Press (ignore the mistaken title; I changed it after this web page was made); and in May, Magdaléna Platzová’s The Attempt, for Bellevue Literary Press. More news to come, obviously, but I wanted to get word out as soon as possible. It’s going to be a busy year. Sláva!

Note: Since I currently serve as cochair of the PEN America Translation Committee, and in this capacity promote to both translators and publishers the model contract for literary translation, which among other things states that “the translator’s name shall appear on the cover,” no doubt some inquiring minds are wondering why my name is absent from two of the three covers above. In the case of the Karolinum book, the answer is that it should be there and the fact that it is not is an oversight on the part of the designer, which I have pointed out to the publisher. In the case of the Bellevue book, the answer is that my name will appear on the back cover, but not the front. This was the agreement I reached in the course of my negotiations with the publisher, in which we each met the other halfway on a variety of points where we started from different positions. It was the longest negotiation I have ever had, and to be honest, probably also the most satisfying one, because of the obvious respect and understanding we had for each other throughout. Every contract is a negotiation. That is the first and most important thing to know for a translator entering into a contract with a publisher.

Department of Czech Literary Yields, Continued

What We Saw in 2013 and What We’ll See in 2014

As I wrote in June, I’ve started a database of Czech lit in translation — not going all the way back, mind you, but just to keep track of what’s come out since the end of communism (I may also include a few books from ’89 and before, just for the sake of reference). It’s mainly for myself, but I figured there must be at least a few other people out there who are interested.

Random stack of Czech books from librarything.com

Here’s what I’ve got so far: http://bit.ly/1dQfwDF. Please do write and let me know if you’re aware of any books I’ve missed.

And as far as I can tell, here’s what we’ve got to look forward to in English translation from Czech over the next 12 months (pub dates based on bookstore websites, rather than publishers’ sites, which aren’t always updated as often):

• February: Aaron’s Leap, by Magdaléna Platzová, trans. Craig Cravens (Bellevue Literary Press), and Marketa Lazarová, by Vladislav Vančura, trans. Carleton Bulkin (Twisted Spoon Press). [N.B. The latter has been pushed back several times from its original date of spring/March 2013, so whether or not the Feb. date will hold is anybody’s guess.]
• March: Rambling On: An Apprentice’s Guide to the Gift of the Gab, by Bohumil Hrabal, trans. David Short, and Of Mice and Mooshaber, by Ladislav Fuks, trans. Mark Corner (both Karolinum Press).
• May: Harlequin’s Millions, by Bohumil Hrabal, trans. Stacey Knecht (Archipelago Books), and Nightwork, by Jáchym Topol, trans. Marek Tomin (Portobello Books). 

For those of you into statistics, note the expected yield for 2014 (six books) is 50 percent higher than it was this year (four books). 

Department of Literary Yields

Czech Crop for English Readers in 2013

So far it looks like The Devil's Workshop (my translation of Jáchym Topol's most recent novel, published yesterday in the UK by Portobello Books) and Lord Mord (by Miloš Urban, translated by Gerald Turner for Peter Owen Publishers) may be the only works of Czech fiction appearing in English translation this year.


Otherwise, according to the latest database of translations published by Chad Post on the Three Percent blog yesterday, there are no other books translated into English from Czech scheduled to appear this year. (Before anybody objects, I of course realize there is a Czech author on the list — Monika Zgustová — but she lives in Barcelona and wrote her novel The Silent Woman, due out in November, in Spanish.)

Major kudos to Mr. Post, by the way, for having had the foresight to start his lists. Without their existence, people like me would be less likely to do this kind of analysis, and the number of important debates and discussions they've given rise to is surely too many to count. Thank you, Chad! On the other hand, nobody's perfect, and there are a few Czech books missing from the list for 2013:

• Grove Atlantic is slated to publish Ivan Klíma's mammoth memoir, My Crazy Century, translated by Craig Cravens, in November. (Although this is a memoir, not fiction.)
• Twisted Spoon Press, in Prague, is supposed to bring out interwar giant Vladislav Vančura's classic novel Markéta Lazarová, in Carleton Bulkin's translation, although the originally scheduled pub date of spring (or March) 2013 has since been reported as May, then June, and it now seems to be due out in September. So we'll see.
• Finally, Jantar Publishing, in London, is planning to bring out two works this fall: Kytice, by Karel Jaromír Erben (bilingual edition, trans. Susan Reynolds), and The History Teacher, by Tereza Brdečková, trans. Elsa Morrison and Jan Čulík.

For comparison's sake, here are the numbers of works of Czech literature translated into English in the past five years (again, data from Three Percent):

2012: 4  

2011: 2 

2010: 5 

2009: 6

2008: 5

I did some research and came up with a few more past publications:

2012: –1 + 5 + 2 

• Harlequin's Millions, by Bohumil Hrabal, trans. Stacey Knecht, Archipelago Books, was slated for publication in April 2012 but is now listed as due out in April 2014 

• Václav Havel: Leaving and The Memo, trans. Paul Wilson; The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, trans. Štěpán Šimek; The Vaněk Plays, trans. Jan Novák; The Pig, or Václav Havel's Hunt for a Pig, trans. Edward Einhorn; all Theater 61 Press 

• A Bouquet of Czech Folktales, by Karel Jaromír Erben, trans. Marcela Malek Sulak, Twisted Spoon Press 

•  On Flying Objects, by Emil Hakl, trans. Petr Kopet and Karen Reppin, Comma Press

2011:  +2 

• Prague, I see a city . . ., by Daniela Hodrová, and The Angel-maker, by Michal Mareš, both trans. David Short, Jantar Publishing

2010: +1 

• Gargling With Tar, by Jáchym Topol, trans. David Short, Portobello Books 

So the revised numbers would be:

2012: 10  

2011: 4 

2010: 6 

2009: 6

2008: 5

I did the best sleuthing I could, but if I've missed any books, I'll look forward to hearing about them! (P.S. I realize my labels are incomplete, but Blogger allows only a limited number of them.)

Department of Say What?

Bad Translation Makes Mexicans Think Prague Has Special Subway Cars for People to Have Sex

A slew of Mexican news sites reported over the weekend that a campaign to increase ridership on the Prague Metro included designating a car on each train where passengers could knock boots.

Photo: vanguardia.com.mx

Metro.cz writes that the campaign, described in English here, will create a special car where singles can meet ("vagon, kde se budou moct lidé seznámit"), but that's as far as it's meant to go.

Some of the Mexican sites, like the one above, illustrated their stories with photographs from New York City's annual No Pants Subway Ride.

Filip Drápal of Ropid, the Prague transport company, is quoted as saying that nobody who enters the car will be forced to make contact with their fellow riders.

Other features of the campaign to induce Praguers to ride the Metro instead of driving their cars include concerts on the platforms and posters with quotes from Michal Viewegh novels and lyrics by pop rockers Mandrage.

Bookslut Smackdown Department

Jessa Crispin, aka Bookslut, who once upon a time ran a review of CSS, picks apart a new book by Spanish --> English translator Edith Grossman.