Monday, August 2, 2010

Translation


Am reading Edith Grossman's new book, Why Translation Matters.

She copiously laments the fact that modern translators get no respect (only about 2% of books published in the U.S. are translations) and credibly claims that attitudes in the Renaissance were, in fact, more modern and less parochial.

"Here," she writes, "is what the translators of the King James version of the Bible, first published in 1611, had to say about their work ..."

Translation it is that openeth the window, to let in the light; that breaketh the shell, that we may eat the kernel; that putteth aside the curtain, that we may look into the most holy place; that removeth the cover of the well, that we may come by the water.