There was an interesting interview in Saturday’s Grauniad with the translator Michael Hofmann, that I rather wish I had seen before doing the final revisions to the latest iteration of my adaptation of the Melian Dialogue (just published in Disclaimer magazine). Of course, my piece isn’t a translation in the conventional sense, but an attempt at a distillation, trying to capture and intensify the essense of the original.* This means I don’t have quite the same fear (experienced by most translators, but bullishly dismissed by Hofmann) of criticism for introducing anachronistic language – that’s actually part of the point, and I would *love* to hear the Melian Dialogue converted into a rap battle or similar contemporary idiom (any classically-inclined MCs out there, feel free to get in touch…). (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Michael Hofmann’
“Oh Yes It Is.” “Oh No It Isn’t.”
Posted in Research in Progress, tagged Melian Dialogue, Michael Hofmann, Thucydides, translation, Yanis Varoufakis on April 11, 2016| 3 Comments »
