Acclaimed translator Lazer Lederhendler on why novels are still necessary
Jennifer Warren | CBC | Posted: March 27, 2017 7:24 PM | Last Updated: May 19, 2017
In the world of literary translation, Lazer Lederhendler is a rock star. Nominated five times for the Governor General's Literary Award, Lazer has snagged a second win for Catherine Leroux's The Party Wall — which was also shortlisted for the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Below, Lazer Lederhendler answers eight questions submitted by eight of his fellow writers in the CBC Books Magic 8 Q&A.
1. David McGimpsey asks, "If you were to pair your latest book with a signature cocktail, what is that cocktail called and what's it made of?"
My preferred alcoholic drinks are red wine and single malt scotch. A double shot, neat, of 18-year-old Talisker would be a good match for The Party Wall.
2. Drew Hayden Taylor asks, "If you were to have a dinner party, which two characters from the books you've done would you like to have sit at your dining room table and chat with?"
Both from The Party Wall: Carmen, the long distance runner from the Bay Area (CA) who was a contender for an Olympic medal but chose instead to depart from the set route of the race, thus, automatically disqualifying herself. And Joanna, the six-foot-three Dutch nurse married to a Cameroonian 30 years her junior, with whom she spends a few weeks once a year. She shows up one day on a too-small bicycle at Madeleine's house in Grande-Anse, N.B.
3. Russell Wangersky asks, "Which do you like better? The heady rush of the first draft, or the controlled precision of the edits and re-edits? Why?"
The question doesn't readily apply to my work as a translator, but when I write an original piece, the first draft usually involves not so much a heady rush as a headache, which gradually goes away as I edit. I enjoy getting to the point where I tell myself this is as good as it's going to get (for now), time to move on to something else.
4. Susan Juby asks, "What's your approach to reviews and reader feedback? Do you read criticism? Ignore it? Take it into consideration?"
I welcome criticism and feedback so long as the critic or reader deals with work on its own terms (i.e. doesn't have a prior personal agenda) and doesn't nitpick. Of course it's always helpful when someone points out errors or suggests a good alternative. Whatever can make the book better is fine by me. I did a translation workshop with some graduate students and used an excerpt of one of my translations. One of the students suggested "nemesis" instead of "perennial rival" and I agreed it would have made the sentence stronger.
5. Meg Rosoff asks, "What's your favourite way to waste time?"
I have trouble getting my head around the notion of "wasting time" except, maybe, in the context of industrial production and such. If we're talking about favourite distractions from work, I go for long walks, which is often where I hit on solutions to some issue or problem I'd been grappling with either in my life or current project.
6. Sharon Butala asks, "What is the main question that you wish somebody would ask you, although nobody ever has?"
"What are your thoughts on the ever-deepening global environmental crisis we're faced with?"
7. Lynn Coady asks, "Is there a poet, philosopher, musician, painter or any other type of artist outside the world of fiction who has inspired your work in a concrete way at some point or another? If so, who?"
I've had many teachers, in the broad sense of the word. John Berger, for one. One of the things his writing has taught me is the importance of surprising the reader, of writing something quite unexpected but shining with rightness.
8. Timothy Taylor asks, "Does the novel still have a job in contemporary culture?"
Yes it does. As far as I can see, no other art form has managed to do a better job than the novel when it comes to giving narrative shape to the embodied, individual experience of conscious existence within the flow of time and history.