Interview with Marina Harss [Read This Next]
As part of on Alberto Moravia’s Two Friends, we just posted an interview with translator Marina Harss conducted by U of R translation grad student (and fellow soccer fan) Acacia O’Connor.
Here’s an excerpt:
Acacia O鈥機onnor: Two Friends is a unique text 鈥 it鈥檚 different segments of unfinished works by the great Italian writer Alberto Moravia, rather than an even nearly complete novel manuscript 鈥 how do these different segments work together in your mind? What sorts of challenges did this text, which at times misses segments etc., present to you as a translator?
Marina Harss: I think the challenge for me was the 鈥渦nfinished鈥 quality, sorting out the repetitions in the texts, dealing with spots where I knew that Moravia would have cleaned things up. How to be respectful to Moravia while also being completely faithful to the text. Also, I found that in dealing with three unfinished texts, it was more difficult to 鈥済et into the flow鈥 and really get to know the characters, their past and their future. [. . .]
AO: What do you think Moravia, or any author like him really, would feel or think about having these manuscripts published? And translated into English?
MH: Honestly, I think he would probably be horrified. He burned his early drafts, and these only survived because they were in a pile of papers that was misplaced during a move. Clearly, he didn鈥檛 feel the book worked, since he abandoned it to write Il Disprezzo. But people who are interested in (and love) Moravia will get something out of these fragments, and in that sense it is a tribute to the writer.
Be sure and read the and tomorrow we’ll post Acacia’s review.
OK, I’m out. Our air conditioning shut down around noon today, so it’s approximately 135 degrees in my office and my brain is melting.
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