Lydia Davis: belief

Transcript context

…How would you put what you did with Flaubert in contrast to that translation? Staying much closer to the French. That was something I tried to do with Proust and Flaubert, was really not stray too far, no farther than absolutely necessary. Whereas Steegmuller would put in a phrase that isn’t even in the Flaubert. “Poor thing” is the one I remember. After Charles’s first wife dies — the wife that precedes Emma Bovary — the narrator says, “Poor thing.” I don’t remember if Charles says it or it’s just in the narration, but “poor thing” is not in the Flaubert. Steegmuller was making a readable, very vibrant novel out of it. That’s okay as far as that goes. I think that’s what you mean by a good book to read that a scholar would not necessarily approve of the approach. At current margins, what is your dream translation job?…

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