{"id":146927,"date":"2020-08-17T14:50:26","date_gmt":"2020-08-17T18:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=146927"},"modified":"2020-08-17T16:55:19","modified_gmt":"2020-08-17T20:55:19","slug":"the-art-of-distance-no-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Distance No. 22"},"content":{"rendered":"

In March,<\/em>\u00a0The Paris Review\u00a0launched<\/em>\u00a0The Art of Distance, a newsletter highlighting unlocked archive pieces that resonate with the staff of<\/em>\u00a0the magazine<\/em>, quarantine-appropriate writing on the<\/em>\u00a0Daily, resources from our peer organizations,<\/em>\u00a0and more. Read Emily Nemens\u2019s introductory letter\u00a0here<\/a>, and find the latest unlocked archive pieces below.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAugust is Women in Translation Month, an annual celebration centered around the #WiTMonth<\/a> hashtag and started by the book blogger Meytal Radzinski in 2014. Though it\u2019s worth reading literature in translation year-round, August provides an opportunity to shine a spotlight on this work. Even as the coronavirus pandemic puts new distances between people, travel to other places, other periods, and other perspectives is possible via literature. To read a book is to play a trick on space and time; though I may be physically sitting in the same small bedroom where I\u2019ve spent most of my time since March, I am actually anywhere but. And so to celebrate Women in Translation Month, this week\u2019s The Art of Distance lifts the paywall on works of or about translation. Happy reading, happy travels, and stay safe.\u201d \u2014Rhian Sasseen, Engagement Editor<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Margaret Jull Costa. Photo: \u00a9 Gary Doak \/ Alamy Stock Photo.<\/p><\/div>\n

This Women in Translation Month archive dive begins with Margaret Jull Costa\u2019s Writers at Work interview, The Art of Translation No. 7<\/a>. Jull Costa is a legend in the world of translation, having brought work by Fernando Pessoa, Jos\u00e9 Saramago, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Luisa Valenzuela, and more into English. As she tells interviewer Katrina Dodson, \u201cI think translating is just what I do. I miss it terribly if we go on holiday, and sometimes take some editing with me as my security blanket. So I suppose I\u2019m a translation addict. There are worse things.\u201d (If you\u2019d like to learn more about the process behind this interview, Dodson will be joining us for a live conversation<\/a> on The Paris Review<\/em>\u2019s\u00a0Instagram<\/a> on Thursday, August 20, at 7 P.M.<\/small> EST.) <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always appreciated the ways literature in translation encourages me to interrogate my relationship with my native language. As the man at the center of the Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann\u2019s short story \u201cEverything<\/a>,\u201d translated by Eithne Wilkins and Ernst Kaiser, realizes: \u201cIt\u2019s all a question of language, and not merely of this particular language of ours, which was created with all the other languages at the Tower of Babel in order to bring confusion into the world. For under them all there\u2019s another language smouldering away.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the history that language carries, as the Egyptian poet Iman Mersal writes in \u201cA Celebration<\/a>,\u201d translated by Robyn Creswell: \u201cCelebration. As if I\u2019d never said the word before. As if it came from a Greek lexicon in which the victorious Spartans march home with Persian blood still wet on their spears and shields.\u201d<\/p>\n

Language plays tricks on the reader, too, as it does in the Japanese writer Hiromi Kawakami\u2019s short story \u201cMogera Wogura<\/a>,\u201d translated by Michael Emmerich. \u201cLet me tell you about my mornings,\u201d begins the narrator, regaling us with the details of an ordinary day before the twist is revealed: \u201cThe humans I\u2019ve collected are in the next room.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I have the reader\u2019s attention I feel it is my right to pull in whichever direction I choose,\u201d the Italian writer Elena Ferrante argues in her Art of Fiction interview<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t think the reader should be indulged as a consumer, because he isn\u2019t one. Literature that indulges the tastes of the reader is a degraded literature. My goal is to disappoint the usual expectations and inspire new ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

New expectations are certainly inspired by reading these two poems<\/a> by the Brazilian writer Ad\u00e9lia Prado, translated by Ellen Watson, both new looks at colors. \u201cThe sky purples morning and evening,\u201d Prado writes in \u201cPurple,\u201d \u201ca red rose growing older.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, why not pop over to the Daily<\/em> and read Jennifer Croft\u2019s essay \u201cThe Nobel Prize Was Made for Olga Tokarczuk<\/a>\u201d? Croft, the translator of Tokarczuk\u2019s novel Flights<\/em>, which won the Man Booker International Prize, joined us on The Paris Review<\/em>\u2019s Instagram earlier this month<\/a> to discuss her work translating from Polish and Spanish, her own writing, and why translation is like swimming.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sign up\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to receive a fresh installment of The Art of Distance in your inbox every Monday<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To celebrate Women in Translation Month, this week\u2019s The Art of Distance lifts the paywall on works of and about translation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63638],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-art-of-distance"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Art of Distance No. 22 by The Paris Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"To celebrate Women in Translation Month, this week\u2019s The Art of Distance lifts the paywall on works of and about translation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Art of Distance No. 22 by The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"August 17, 2020 \u2013 To celebrate Women in Translation Month, this week\u2019s The Art of Distance lifts the paywall on works of and about translation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-17T18:50:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-17T20:55:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/costa.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a14f739935c82f100675b84e220252e\"},\"headline\":\"The Art of Distance No. 22\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-17T18:50:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-17T20:55:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/\"},\"wordCount\":749,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/costa.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"The Art of Distance\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/\",\"name\":\"The Art of Distance No. 22 by The Paris Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/costa.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-17T18:50:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-17T20:55:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"To celebrate Women in Translation Month, this week\u2019s The Art of Distance lifts the paywall on works of and about translation.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/costa.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/costa.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Art of Distance No. 22\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a14f739935c82f100675b84e220252e\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c15ccd1e2629bc3b1a8aa1a407e1186742acfaf923abe2addfec0885197794ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c15ccd1e2629bc3b1a8aa1a407e1186742acfaf923abe2addfec0885197794ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/parisreview\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Art of Distance No. 22 by The Paris Review","description":"To celebrate Women in Translation Month, this week\u2019s The Art of Distance lifts the paywall on works of and about translation.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Art of Distance No. 22 by The Paris Review","og_description":"August 17, 2020 \u2013 To celebrate Women in Translation Month, this week\u2019s The Art of Distance lifts the paywall on works of and about translation.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2020-08-17T18:50:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-08-17T20:55:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":666,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/costa.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"The Paris Review","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Paris Review","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/"},"author":{"name":"The Paris Review","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a14f739935c82f100675b84e220252e"},"headline":"The Art of Distance No. 22","datePublished":"2020-08-17T18:50:26+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-17T20:55:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/"},"wordCount":749,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/costa.png","articleSection":["The Art of Distance"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/","name":"The Art of Distance No. 22 by The Paris Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/costa.png","datePublished":"2020-08-17T18:50:26+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-17T20:55:19+00:00","description":"To celebrate Women in Translation Month, this week\u2019s The Art of Distance lifts the paywall on works of and about translation.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/costa.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/costa.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/08\/17\/the-art-of-distance-no-22\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Art of Distance No. 22"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a14f739935c82f100675b84e220252e","name":"The Paris Review","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c15ccd1e2629bc3b1a8aa1a407e1186742acfaf923abe2addfec0885197794ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c15ccd1e2629bc3b1a8aa1a407e1186742acfaf923abe2addfec0885197794ff?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"The Paris Review"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/parisreview\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146927"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146935,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146927\/revisions\/146935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}