Continuing their packed calendar of events for the fall semester, the Shapiro Center for Writing and Criticism held their first of two talks with Shapiro-Silverberg Distinguished Writer-in-Residence Damion Searls on Wednesday, Oct. 11 at 12:15 p.m. The event promoted “Thomas Mann: New Selected Stories,” a new release in Searls’ catalog, and encouraged students and faculty to think about and interact with the art of translation in the context of Mann’s work.
Searls is a writer and translator and has translated over 50 works from German, French, Dutch, and Norwegian into English, including “Septology” and numerous other short stories from the latest Nobel prize winner in Literature, Jon Fosse.
The guests found their seats and secured a copy of the book. Searls first introduced himself and then gave a short insight into the overall series, explaining that the hilarious reason the book was translated and published so long after it was written was because of Mickey Mouse. In the midst of giggles, he described how American Copyright Law—instituted in 1923 to exclude Disney property, as well as anything published after, from the public domain—made it impossible for him to publish a translation of Mann’s work earlier.
This edition came about because of Searls’ favorite Mann short story, “Chaotic World and Childhood Sorrow,” which is the first piece in this new volume. Even though other translations of Mann exist in English, Searls felt that they did not do justice to the original German. Out of “Chaotic World and Childhood Sorrow” grew a whole collection of translated work that includes favorites among Mann’s audience, such as “Death in Venice” and “Felix Krull.”
“Chaotic World and Childhood Sorrow” was not an easy title to come by. Searls took the audience through his process, sharing a story about translating German texts into English.
“You have to de-nounify it,” Searls said.
This refers to English translations of German works. English relies heavily on verbs and adjectives, in contrast with German where emphasis lies in nouns. “Disorder and Early Sorrow” was another translation of this title, but this was not enough for Searls.
“Disorder feels like something you clean up, like dusting off the bookshelf,” Searls said. “Here, the whole world is out of order and plunged into madness.”
After taking apart and putting back together words and thoughts, he arrived at the title of the first short story in the guests’ hands. He believes that thinking through the grammatical nuances, as well as words that are most representative of a text’s tone, are thoughts every writer should occupy themselves with.
‘Thinking about translation is good for your own writing,” Searls said.
Searls then read an excerpt from “Confessions of a Con Artist” by Felix Krull, demonstrating how funny and engaging Mann’s stories can be. Searls recognized people’s impression of Mann as a daunting, gloomy writer but he said that a lot of it has to do with the translations they have encountered.
“This is not your grandfather’s Thomas Mann,” he laughed.
Searls spoke about striking a balance between adhering closely to every word of the original works and adding in other words to make the English flow better. Looking at the examples he provided and comparing his translation to other ones, the audience gained an insight into his process and his faithfulness to the original German without forgoing readability.
It couldn’t have been lunch with Thomas Mann without mentioning the classic, “Death in Venice.” Searls went on about the different ways the work is read and its significance in Mann’s body of work. The whole story is a projection of realities that Thomas Mann himself is not living out, but his characters are. The plot itself is inspired by a trip Mann took in 1911 to Venice, where he—just like the main character of the story—was enamored with a younger man. In the second part of “Death in Venice,” the author lays out a list of projects he had in mind—but did not finish in his lifetime—and gives them to his character (who does complete them) but is then doomed. Searls said that “Death in Venice” did not sabotage his mission; actually, the collection feels more complete because of it. The reader of the book might find the stories even more compelling because of this doubling of more lighthearted stories with more serious ones, like “Death in Venice.”
The audience was delighted with the work and expressed excitement for this new translation. Many in the audience were professors, already familiar with the work of Mann, or students enthusiastic about reading his work for the first time. Bringing texts closer to the English-speaking public is one of the guiding principles of Searl’s work.
“Make it speak to readers today; that’s where my allegiance is,” Searls said.
The three-part series will now be reduced to two due to the translator’s required attendance at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm. Searls was happy to take questions from the attendees and reminded them to read the first short story for the next meeting on Nov. 8. Those with a literary inclination, whether fans of Thomas Mann or translation, should make it a priority to attend the next lunch in this series.
Arla Hoxha can be reached at ahoxha@wesleyan.edu.