Recently I set up Québec Reads, which features what I and our contributors consider to be the very best of contemporary Québec literature, both originally written in English and (more often than not) translated from the French.
This new project has left me thinking about the purpose of this blog: Literary Translation in Québec, a title that I see now covers both the act of translating (the process) and the end result (the product). I’ve been thinking it might be interesting (for me and, hopefully, for you) to go on a behind-the-scenes tour of the literary translation scene in Québec, and my contribution to it.
Over the years, I think I’ve been sucked into trying to put out occasional pieces that strive to be more definitive summaries on what I think about a certain topic (when should literary translators be credited? the lack of funding for Québec literature in translation) rather than shorter, more frequent pieces on the particular translation dilemmas I’m facing that week. They’ll be less definitive, but they’ll help me keep track of my thoughts and give anyone who might be interested some insight into the life of a literary translator as we try and rattle out a few hundred words a day in between paying the bills, blogging, doing the odd freelance piece, and picking the kids up from daycare.
