Meeting between Mara Lethem and Irene Solà
, Olot
Meeting between Mara Lethem and Irene Solà
Mara Lethem | Riu Fluvià Hotel (Olot) | October 5, 2020
On Monday, October 5th, thanks to Faber, I had a chance to meet in person with Irene Solà to discuss certain aspects of my translation into English of her Catalan novel Canto jo i la muntanya balla. This lovely book has several translation challenges, particularly its usage of eighteen different voices (human, animal, vegetable, environmental, ghostly), poetry, and supernatural mythological elements. Prior to our meeting, we had maintained an email correspondence to resolve questions and I had sent her the current draft, since she reads English very well (having attended graduate school in London). She generously read the entire translation and offered suggestions. In our meeting I primarily wanted to make sure that the poetry in the novel was successfully translated, and we were also able to discuss various nuances throughout, of both word choice and narrative voice.