Translating Myself and Others: Brilliant but Maybe Too Academic

Posted On April 17, 2023

Hi Readers! I recently saw a stellar recommendation on Instagram for Jhumpa Lahiri’s Translating Myself and Others. Given that it was a collection of essays and that it was short, I read it right away. If you want to read my reviews of other books by Jhumpa Lahiri, you can read them here: Unaccustomed Earth, Whereabouts, In Other Words, The Namesake, Interpreter of Maladies.

~~DESCRIPTION~~

These essays are quite diverse. We have introductions to two books Lahiri has translated and an afterword for one. All three are written in Italian by Domenico Starnone, translated to English titles as Ties, Trick and Trust. I’m definitely intrigued to read them now. We also read about the self-translation process of Whereabouts, a book I loved with all my heart.

One of the essays titled ‘Why Italian?’ answers the obvious question which I had wondered a lot too. But after reading it, I was almost embarrassed for ever having questioned it.

My favorite essay was ‘In Praise of Echo’. There was a lot of content and references to other literary work, but all of it was simply astounding. Lahiri talks of Echo as the translator and Narcissus as the writer. Read more about Echo and Narcissus here! She also mirrors translating vis vis immigration which I thought was ingenious.

We have her reviewing the translation process of Aristotle, Horace, Hemingway, Gramsci and Italo Calvino. All of it was again so much academia and not easy for everyone to understand and perhaps process very quickly.

~~THOUGHTS: WHAT I LIKED~~

One word review: Fascinated.
I have read almost all of Jhumpa Lahiri’s books, but after reading this book, I have a newfound intimidation of her genius. Reading these essays you really get the sense of the real her. The way her brain works, the way she thinks, how she picks one aspect of language or writing or grammar or translation and then references it across multiple literary works. It’s mind blowing. She is just rolling with it with such charm and flare.

Secondly, reading this book has made me so respectful of translators. I read a lot of translated literature. I always know the author but don’t always know the translator. From now on, I’m going to be more mindful to find out about the translator and their work. Writing comes straight from your head but it’s always inspired by something that already exists. But translating is a tough world of its own because one Italian word can mean multiple things and how amazing and fun and interesting it is to get to that right word with respect to the context. But also it is such a tough job to get it right.

~~THOUGHTS: WHAT I DID NOT LIKE~~

Whatever I did understand was enrapturing and also made me think of pursuing a PhD in Literature but there was also a lot I did not understand. Straight over the head. At times, the content felt like a grammar lesson. At other times, it felt like a boring documentary in the written format. Some times, it felt like Lahiri low key fangirling over her favorite writers and translators. And some content I simply thought was a bit much. For most of it, this felt like the kind of book people studying literature or translation should read.

In Chapter 4, she mentions how a man reviewed her Introduction to a book she had translated as “energy-sapping intellectualization.” I can’t help but agree to that description for some essays of the book.

With its ups and downs, I’m still glad I read this because I learnt quite a lot and got an insight into a translator’s life. I have rated Translating Myself and Others by Jhumpa Lahiri at 3.5/5 stars!

Until next time,