Here is an excerpt from Edith Grossman's speech about translating Marquez at the 2003 PEN Tribute to the late Columbian author (1927-2014) whose work had a transformative impact on global literature:
"Ralph Maheim, the great translator from the German, compared the translator to an actor who speaks as the author would if the author spoke English. A sophisticated and provocative analogy, for it takes into account something that is not always as clear as it should be, at least to many reviewers, whose highest endorsement for a translation tends to be that it is “seamless.” If I may attempt to translate the damnation barely concealed in their faint praise, I think they really mean that the translator has, with proper humility, made herself or himself “invisible,” a punishing goal that is desirable only if we are held personally responsible for the Tower of Babel and all its dire consequences for our species."
Full text here: http://www.themodernword.com/gabo/gabo_PEN_grossman.html
More about Grossman's visit: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/grossman_edith14.html
Complete schedule of events: http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/programpages/vws.html#.VBBgU1_D_s0
