Translation as Transhumance, by Mirelle Gansel
The word “transhumance” appears only once in Translation as Transhumance, described as “the long, slow movement of the flocks to distant places, in search of the greenest pastures, the low plains in winter and the high valleys in summer”.
After experiencing the trauma of her family losing everything, even her native language, in Nazi Germany, Mireille Gansel started to translate East German poets. This half memoire, half philosophical treaty meditates on the art of translation, its challenges and processes as an entry in another language and culture.
But translation also provokes an estrangement and becomes an exercise of empathy between those in exile, for different languages are always tied to histories and perspectives.
In this brilliant essay, Mireille Gansel enlightens the power of language which helps us to survive and to build bridges across borders. The task of translation, unfairly underestimated, is a true work of joining souls -even if it sometimes requires to change syntax. Now that the tower of Babel has disappeared, we are doomed to retake the same path, in a desperate attempt to reach for an universal language.
We end up this beautiful little book with one conviction: literature helps to make a humane world.
Translated by Ros Schwartz.