Lily Meyer and Mona Kareem Reflect on Close-Up: An Experiment in Reviewing Translation
Today WWB concludes its series Close-Up: An Experiment in Reviewing Translation, in which Lily Meyer and Mona Kareem seek to develop and practice a translation-centric approach to reviewing works of international literature. In the conversation below, Meyer and Kareem talk with WWB about what they've learned over the course of the series and the steps their fellow critics can take to engage more effectively with books in translation. Read the most recent installment in the series here.
WWB: During your initial conversation in May, one of the hopes you expressed for this series, Mona, was to examine "the game of solutions that comes into sight [when we're talking about translation]—the courage to betray, to rewrite, to montage, as well as the confidence to dissect a text, to choose what points of strength and weakness to emphasize or treat." I wonder how the two of you feel this played out, particularly in the context of the reviews you wrote of work translated from languages you did not know?