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Natasha Wimmer & Edith Grossman: A Conversation about Translation

In The Task of the Translator, Walter Benjamin expostulates that any literary translation is a deformed version of the original text — but that the "flaws" reveal repressed aspects of the text, while also rendering others unreadable. Benjamin's theory of translation advocates for a "productive mortification" of the text. This is only one of thousands of theories on translation — one of the most hotly debated practices in the world of literary theory. Natasha Wimmer is the translator of Roberto Bolaño, whose posthumous 900-plus page epic 2666 finally received its highly anticipated release in English this past week. Tonight Wimmer talks with Edith Grossman, who translates Cervantes and Antonio Muñoz Molina.

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