Daisy Rockwell makes a case for translation as a ‘three-legged race’ and ‘a huge goddamn wedding’

Translation is a three-legged race

Translation is a three-legged race
The author and translator
attached at the hip
hopping awkwardly along
or competitively
attempting to move forward
jostling one another
running into other author–translator pairs
along the course
crumpling in an awkward heap at the finish line
Are they bound together with a rope?
Or is it more of a sack-race scenario?
In which case do they each put a leg in the
sack and hop along
or is the translator a sack-racer
and the sack is the original text
and the translator must hop the text along
the course
reach the finish line
again collapsing in an undignified heap
Did I win? she gasps, looking around
The other translators all lie panting on the grass
swathed in burlap
If you made it to the finish line
that means you finished the book
It was published
The problem with the three-legged race
metaphor
is that whilst the translator is always
tethered
to the author
The author is free to compete in all manner
of track and field events
on their own
They only need the translator
if they wish to be known outside their
language
Of course this creates greater dependence
on the monocrop translators
The translators and the authors compete in
three-legged races
among the rippling fields of wheat
They trample over the soybeans
get tangled in the stalks of corn
Perhaps translation into English is a three-
legged race through a corn maze
Whoever hops their way through the...

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