Mouse or Rat?: Translation as Negotiation Book

Professor of semiotics, essayist and world-renowned novelist Umberto Eco's Mouse or Rat? Translation as Negotiation is based on a series of lectures on the art of translation. Strictly speaking this is a specialist book, of interest mainly to students and practitioners of translation and in that regard the book will probably become standard. While the book is accessible to the interested novice it would be a mistake to think that the essays produced here will have the broad appeal of his 2002 book of essays Five Moral Pieces. The general lesson here is that translation is negotiation between the translator, the reader and the original author, and how enormously difficult the translating process is. The professional translator must not only have an understanding of two languages, but of differences in culture and a keen attentiveness to the style, rhythm and tone of language if the overall texture and meaning of the text is to be preserved. The book is effectively an instruction manual for translators and a personal record of Eco's own virtuoso translating performances. The solemn duty of the translator is to give every line, every last word loving devoted pious attention in order to recreate the unique voice of the original author. In short, translation is not only an exacting science but an art and the translator's heart must be motivated by what Eco calls "faithfulness". The essays are littered with concrete examples offering practical guidance but at the same time they are full of Eco's philosophical and theoretical musings in relation to his subject. This is an indispensable text for those in the translation business, but the general reader may find it a dense and difficult, although a highly educative read. --Larry BrownRead More