The Best Foreign Literature Translators of 2015 Announced

MOSCOW. The names of the laureates of the “Master” Prize, the best translators of literature in foreign languages, are named.

The ancient Roman philosopher and poet Apuleius once remarked: "What we know is limited, what we do not know is endless." The reverse situation is achievable with difficulty and comparable with the Aesopian call for a drink of the sea. But laziness is not the only obstacle to enlightenment. For many, the language barrier is becoming an insurmountable barrier to much knowledge. Thousands of wonderful books could pass by the attention of those who need them, if not for the translators. Much depends on their experience, intuition and linguistic talent. Will the reader get a text distorted by absurdities that has lost the necessary intonation and meaning along the way, or a work adequate to the spirit and letter of the original. The translation, according to Julian Tuvim, should show the same time as the original. The best options in 2015 were offered by: Vyacheslav Sereda, Pavel Grushko and Olga Varshaver.

Hungarian literature is an infrequent guest on bookstores. Cool specialists who own one of the most difficult representatives of the Finno-Ugric group, by all accounts. Thanks to their efforts, the reader gets the opportunity to discover a huge layer of almost unknown culture. The grandees of Hungarian literature include Peter Esterhazy, Nobel laureate Imre Kertes, Peter Nadash. The brilliant translator Vyacheslav Sereda was awarded the laureate’s prize for the translation of the most complicated “Book of Memories” by Nádas Péter, which tells about a German writer.

In the poetic section, primacy was given to the luminaries of the translation workshop, Pavel Grushko, whose work is also known to those who are far from the world of literature, according to the libretto for the musical "The Star and Death of Joaquin Murieta." Collection “Vestment of Shadows. Poets of Spain ”combined the best works of Catalan and Spanish poets, modern and written many centuries ago.

The best translator of children’s literature was named Olga Warsawer, who opened for readers the amazing books of Kate DiCamillo. The younger generation is the most severe critic, intuitively feeling falsehood and boredom. Readers of books translated by Warsaw, this does not threaten a priori. She does not just follow the unique style of this or that author. Like the Lefthander, she jewelery shoe the smallest linguistic nuances, giving as a result a real masterpiece. This year’s prize was awarded for translating fairy tales by Eleanor Farjeon, Doctor de Soto by William Steig, and The Boy Who Swam with Piranhas by David Almond.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru