Translating & Transfiguring Libuše Moníková
You are cordially invited to a discussion with American translator Anne Posten in honor of her English translation of Libuše Moníková’s Transfigured Night for Karolinum Press. Moderated by Mike Baugh.
Friday, May 12, 7 PM
Charles University, Sweerts-Sporck Palace,
Room 303
Hybernská 3, Prague 1
On an evening of many translation events surrounding the Book World fair, Karolinum Press hosted a friendly get-together at Sweerts-Sporck Palace with translator Anne Posten.
The Berlin-based American translator came to Prague to talk about her recent translation of Czech emigré Libuše Moníková’s 1995 novel Transfigured Night, originally written in German as Verklärte Nacht. Anne talked about her work and life in Germany, her approach to translation, and the ethics of her profession. Many questions were asked by current translation students from the Faculty of Arts.
The path to discovering all the meanings of Moníková’s book, saturated with Czech cultural references, was long and difficult, but astonishingly engaging and adventurous for Posten. Her translation style was influenced by the translation program at Queens College in New York, which approaches translation in a manner that focuses almost entirely on the target language. She also considered the creation process to be very personal, seeing parallels between her own life and the narrator’s, so it came naturally to her to develop a faithful and unique voice for Moníková in English.
The connection between music and translation is, according to the translator who is also a passionate musician, a powerful one. She presented this as another reason for feeling strongly connected to Moníková and her book whose title was borrowed from the musical composition by Arnold Schoenberg.
Read more about the title here.
photographer: Vladimír Šigut
