Susan Feher

Failing better: The endless trajectory of literary retranslation

Retranslation is defined as a new translation in whole or in part of a given work, into a particular language more than one time. Whereas works of literature are said to remain eternally young, translations are thought to be subject to ageing.  Each new translation is considered to be a means of modernizing an original source text, to bring it into the current times, using current language. Translators themselves can be motivated to initiate a retranslation based on their personal interest in improving on an existing translation’s tone, style or voice to correct misperceptions that previous generations have had about certain authors. Each successive translation of a work fulfills a different need, depending on the translator’s agency. Hermynia Zur Mühlen’s memoir Ende und Anfang: Ein Lebensbuch was published in 1929; it was translated into English by Frank Barnes in 1930, and retranslated into English in 2010 by Lionel Gossman. This poster will present Gossman’s motives for undertaking the retranslation; it will compare the translation choices in the two versions and propose new translations of various passages.

Susan Feher is enrolled in the Master’s program in Translation Studies at Concordia University; she also holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences, Concentration in Political Science, from the University of Ottawa (1986) and a Graduate Diploma in Translation from Concordia University (1990). She has over 25 years of experience as a professional translator from French and German to English. Her research focuses on current efforts to revive the lost woman translator and writer, Hermynia Zur Mühlen. Exiled from the Third Reich, Zur Mühlen courageously promoted racial equality and denounced Nazism, anti-Semitism and all other forms of injustice.