Henry Walters: Lost in Translation

DUBLIN, NEW HAMPSHIRE: Johannes Brahms was obsessed with J. S. Bach’s chaconne for solo violin. How do I know that? Well, he published a “transcription” of it for piano, left-hand.

Transcriptions are a well-known way of bringing a foreign text into our hearts and minds. For example, by transcribing the Hebrew bible, “theologians” - as those first modern transcribers are called – better acquainted themselves with the original Hebrew texts and allowed lay people easier access to biblical messages by rephrasing them in modern terms.

Is there a problem with that?

Yes and no. As soon as any text is translated, the message ceases to be the author’s and becomes the translator’s. But within every problem lies opportunity: through translation, we layer a part of ourselves--our language, our experience--onto the original. 

Poet and translator Henry Walters writes, “Translations may also add dimension, force, and subtlety. If we think of translations not as ‘versions’ but as ‘readings’ of the original, we may see them as opportunities to grasp what before had been off limits.”

Come welcome Henry to our show!