Hay Festival Dhaka
THE TRANSLATOR
At the Hay, the Star talks to Eliot Weinberger, one of the leading literary minds of our time
Hay Festival, Dhaka 2013, Photo: Prabir Das
Eliot Weinberger, Photo: Prabir Das
Eliot Weinberger is a contemporary American writer, essayist, editor and translator whose works have been published in more than 30 languages. He first gained international recognition for his translation of Nobel prize winning writer and poet Octavio Paz. A fierce critic of American foreign policy, he is the author of What I Heard in Iraq. His writing branches out across cultures and back through time to humanity's early beginnings. Reading Weinberger leaves you with a sense of the world's inherent sacredness. Everything is alive. From a grain of sand between one's toes to the mechanics of the universe above. It's as if the whole human endeavour has left its mark on his work. His work leads the reader down paths to the Ancient Mayans, Tang poetry, 20th century Modernism, Latin American poetry, Ancient Indian philosophy and other great cultural achievements of our shared humanity.
What is the job of a translator?
EW: Translation is on the one hand a form of advocacy and criticism. You are basically saying that here's a work that should be read. And the way you bring it to the reader is through translation. So in a way it is an act of community service to the community of readers.
If you were to translate Tagore or Kabir or Hafez, would it be necessary for you to have a kind of deep understanding of the world and life as these people?
If one is translating Tagore and he does not have the mind of Tagore, it would be impossible. But by no means has one claimed to have the intellectual capacity of Tagore. There are two sides to translation. It comes from somewhere and it goes somewhere. So using Tagore as an example, it is not enough to have an excellent knowledge of Bengali, you have to know contemporary Anglo-American poetry.
How did you start translating?
When I was 18, I met someone who knew Paz. He sent my translations to Paz who at that time had just resigned his post as the Mexican ambassador to India. Paz liked them a lot and asked me to translate a book of his. He had no idea that I was a 19 Year Old hippie. That was the start of a friendship that lasted till his death.
Do you think through translation the target language is enriched?
Yes. That's the whole purpose. Translation makes possible for the reader to read something that does not exist in his own language. It brings new ideas and new perceptions. There is no one like Paz in the English language. That's why I wanted to translate Paz.
Mexican poet and philosopher Ramon Xirau once said, “The poetry of Paz does not hesitate between language and silence. It leads into the realm of silence where true language lives.” Could you help me understand what he meant?
Paz once said that a poet is someone who is in love with silence who can't stop talking. It's like music is based on silence, a pause between notes. A poem is a musical composition that's based on both sound and silence. You can't have sound without silence.
Tell us about what inspired you to write What I Heard About Iraq.
The American media gave the people what the government wanted us to know about the Iraq war. Everyone had forgotten why America went to war in the first place. This book is actually a collage of quotations from people in the Bush administration, the Pentagon as well as Iraqi civilians. Through sound bites I kind of created a history of the events that led up to the war.
How can America have such a compassionate people and such bad foreign policy?
Of course there are a lot of nice people in the US. But you meet nice people in every country. The United States as an institution does not particularly strike me as caring for others. The people who have been in power in Washington have always been incredibly cruel to the poor in America.
United States may be the only industrialised country in the world where there is still a debate going on whether global warming is real. How does that work?
Firstly, the Republican Party has been taken over by crazy people who do not believe in climate change. We have Rick Santorum who said that we should not have public schools---education is the responsibility of parents. And secondly, American media always creates an illusion of balance. If I say the world is round, they have to have someone on the programme who says, no, the world is flat. Although it is scientifically impossible, it gives validity to both.
Why do they validate an absolutely crazy idea? What is the real reason behind it?
Well, it's good for big business. If you recognise that climate change is real, you have to do something about it. You have to cut down on consumption of fossil fuels and reduce pollution. But that would be bad for you if you are in the oil business.
Do you have to be a poet in order to be able to translate poems?
You have to read a lot of poetry.
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