Straight to the Point and Other Stories
written by Joe Friggieri, translated by Clare Vassallo and published by Kite Books, 2019.
Straight to the Point and Other Short Stories is an English translation of Joe Friggieri’s collection of stories Nismagħhom Jgħidu, published in 2016 by Kite Group. Since the book has already been reviewed by others, my contribution focuses mainly on the recently published English translation by Clare Vassallo.
Literary translation is often taken for granted, and the work of the translator is often overlooked. Translated books are frequently reviewed and discussed as if a work was magically and effortlessly rewritten in another language. Despite the time, skill and effort invested in the translation process, translators remain largely invisible and unacknowledged. Here the spotlight is put on the translator’s work.
In the translator’s preface, Vassallo tells us that she set herself the task “to make the reader of this English version recognise Joe Friggieri’s voice as it comes through thoroughly rewritten in another language”. Undoubtedly, Vassallo does indeed manage to skillfully capture Friggieri’s voice.
In order to achieve this she draws on Umberto Eco, who maintained that a good translation is faithful to the intention of the text and produces the same effect intended by the source text.
According to Eco, preserving the overall effect entails making various changes at the surface level of the text. Readers of translations are normally unaware of such changes, which are only apparent by means of a comparative analysis of the source and target texts.
Such an exercise revealed numerous changes in Straight to the Point and Other Short Stories, in their totality, constituting the accumulative result of the translation process. These translatorial decisions are generally necessary to recreate a text that works in a new language – in this case English – and in (a) new culture(s).
I say ‘generally necessary’ because no two translators translate in the same way, and this is where translators’ personal preferences, and hence translators’ styles, come in. The translator always leaves traces in the text, no matter how discernible or discreet they are, and readers of the translated text do not only read the work of the author but that of the author and the translator, in this case Friggieri’s and Vassallo’s. Translators are co-authors of the translated text.
Vassallo’s English translation could serve as a bridge for further translations thus encouraging the propagation of Maltese literature on foreign soil
Let us consider the multiple changes occurring in just one sentence extracted from the story The Engagement:
Fuq l-Imsida l-murtali tal-festa kienu jpittru kwadri mlewna fis-sema iswed u akkwarelli mżellġa fl-ilma tal-bajja. (L-Għerusija, p41)
They were moored off Msida for the festa, and the fireworks painted colourful patterns in the black sky above the town. The creek below softened them to watercolours. (The Engagement, p45)
The segment in English is more explicit, probably because readers of the English translation might not be familiar with Msida and with this scene so common in our culture. The translator therefore adds and explicitates information (They were moored off Msida for the festa/above the town) to put them in the picture.
A short sentence in Maltese in English becomes two sentences of almost double the length. Interestingly, however, Vassallo opts not to change ‘festa’ to ‘feast’ to preserve local (cultural) flavour in the translation.
Many sentences in Straight to the Point and Other Short Stories are much closer to their Maltese counterparts than the example quoted above, but it is by pointing at the changes, inevitable in translation, that the translator’s work becomes apparent, visible and hopefully better acknowledged.
Translation implies change: change of language, culture and readership. Without changes, the translated text will not stand on its own two feet. Put otherwise, translation is preservation (of the meaning of the source text, the story, the author’s voice...) through change. The extent of the changes will always remain debatable.
Translation also means availability, accessibility and promotion. In 2008, Gisèle Sapiro argued that “unlike music or painting, the international circulation of literature depends mostly on translation”. This is particularly true for our national literature, mostly written in Maltese and accessible to hardly half a million readers. Translating Maltese writing into English and other languages not only makes it available to a much wider readership but also enables the promotion of Maltese authors and Maltese literature internationally.
The value of translating Maltese literature has been understood and embraced by national entities, such as the National Book Council and Arts Council Malta, which are both increasingly supporting and promoting translation projects. In fact, Vassallo has received funding for this translation from Arts Council Malta’s Cultural Export Fund.
As a result, and thanks to translation, these stories are now available to a much wider audience. Moreover, Vassallo’s English translation could serve as a bridge for further translations thus encouraging the propagation of Maltese literature on foreign soil.
Claudine Borg holds a PhD in Translation Studies. She has published various papers in international academic journals on translation as well as several literary translations. She has co-authored a book on literary translation and co-edited an anthology of Maltese prose translated into English.