For Hopscotch’s second anniversary, we asked a handful of translators to tell us about the “impassable” words that they’d found it tricky to bring into their target languages.
Music, Math, Religion, and Naming
On the topographical rhythms of prose, and historical decisions for transliteration: Chris Clarke reflects on his translation of Algerian author Ryad Girod’s novel «Mansour’s Eyes».
The honor and burden of poetry
Khalid Lyamlahy delves into Annie Jamison’s translation of «The Uncertainty Principle», one of the latest poetry collections by the eminent Moroccan writer Abdellatif Laâbi.
Zabor, or the Crisis of Language
Emma Ramadan takes her recent translation of Kamel Daoud’s novel «Zabor, or the Psalms» as a starting point to reflect on her own identity and “in-betweenness” as a translator.