DOT: Putting an end to a story. A dead story. Or a story which has yet to come alive? Which is not too far ahead of us, on the timeline with a zigzagging storyline. With lines of light conjuring up clouds, the sea, palm trees, sandy beaches and so on. A mesmerising morning landscape. A mirror copy of a painting. A painting of nature.
DOT: Yang telah menoktahkan sebuah kisah. Kisah yang telah mati. Atau kisah yang belum dihidupkan lagi? Yang tidaklah jauh di depan, di atas susurmasa yang disimpang-siurkan jalan ceritanya. Dengan garis-garis cahaya yang menjelmakan awan-gemawan, laut, pokok kelapa, pasiran pantai dan sebagainya. Landskap pagi yang mempesona. Salin tak tumpah seperti sebuah lukisan. Lukisan alam.
Nevertheless, that hand on the table which no one could see helped me serve them at lengthy meals, the servants prattled away of course, a heap of rumours piled up in the corners, and the charwomen seized the chance to steal the candle remains
Ωστόσο, εκείνο το χέρι πάνω στο τραπέζι που κανείς δεν το ’βλεπε, με βοηθούσε να τους υπηρετώ στα μακριά γεύματα, οι υπηρέτες, βέβαια, φλυαρούσαν, ένα σωρό διαδόσεις σωριάζονταν στις γωνιές, κ’ οι παραδουλεύτρες εύρισκαν ευκαιρία κι έκλεβαν τ’ απομεινάρια των κεριών,
Short stories tend to have much shorter lifespans than novels do. As such, a translation is a form of reincarnation. The end result is the same story, but also a completely different one at the same time. The first level of changes is due to the different language operating under another structure, a different set of ties binding the abstract with the specific. But there's also the second level, a more intimate level where the story surreptitiously obtains new properties after it’s been processed through the mind of the translator.
I got into translation for the same reason many people get into blogging, writing reviews, and other fannish activities: I loved certain stories and felt the strong desire to share them with my friends. Except many of my genre-reading friends do not speak Russian. And while I'm not a reviewer and am a lazy blogger at best, in this case I had, ahem, a particular set of skills…
