19 April 2009
Entry 24
The Last Post
First of all, a quick thanks for the latest round of comments – this time including a couple of translators from French (one working on a book about 'revolution and rebellion', which sounds fun …) and an expert in lipsynch translation (how hard must that be?), a children’s books enthusiast and someone who I think was trying to sell me something. An email from a friend who thought the cover design good but not commercial ('needs more depth, or more colour, and better type to be commercial'). And Jess who made the connection between our old friend the ‘chigoe flea’ and what was called a ‘chigger’ in the southern US. (According to Jess’s mum it is extremely itchy indeed.)
I’ve read over the proofs this weekend, making mainly tiny changes and a few layout suggestions, but really had very little to do – they’re looking good. I did have to re-italicise a few things that had lost their formatting, and I rephrased a couple of lines I somehow didn’t quite like the sound of. And I also spotted the place where somehow by accident the 'two oildrums' had been transformed into 'two praying-mantiss', which conjured up a very distressing image indeed. But that was the worst of it – and it’s now back with Arcadia for tinkering with and sending to press.
Reading the proofs also gave me the chance to read over the whole blog, about which I had rather mixed feelings. There are several moments when I said something like 'I’ll deal with that in a later post' and then never did; and there’s a fair bit of repetition (how many times did I start a post with 'Working on other things this week so not much to report …' ?), but I’m hoping that that wasn’t too noticeable for those of you reading it week by week rather than in a single burst. (Apologies, then, to anyone reading it in the book …) Most interesting for me was rereading the questions and opinions from those of you good enough to write in, so thank you again for those. It’s made this normally solitary process unusually collegial, and I’ve enjoyed that aspect of it very much indeed.
So … presses will roll shortly, then the books will be on the shelves, with those communist puns sorted and all those poems and song lyrics more-or-less-sorted, and a few still outstanding niggling doubts I’m just trying to ignore, and plenty of the finally-christened Low-Slung Annie (I do like how that sounds, actually), and those disappointingly inconsistent chapter heads, and the parrots and the chickens and the broken ducks, at least three pairs of firm breasts, the sons of a war and the hearts of the p–, a place that is possibly called Mayday Square, and various tones and compromises and voices and jokes, all under that lovely jacket design. Very pleasing.
And so here we are. Thanks again to James S for his constant hospitality on this site, as we’ve made our erratic journey over these past seven months. And to those of you who’ve made it this far, thank you for the company along the way.
If you would like to comment on this blog, email translationblog@booktrust.org.uk
Estação das Chuvas © José Eduardo Agualusa
English translation Rainy Season © Daniel Hahn
[Editor's note: Many thanks to Daniel for entertaining us and giving us such a fascinating insight into the translation process over the last six months. Watch out for a review of Rainy Season.]
