The Living and Dead Word. The Art of Literary Translation

Eleonora Yakovlevna Galperina (1912–1991), better known as Nora Gal, was a talented Soviet translator of English and French literature, critic, editor, and literary scholar. Throughout her years of tireless work, she not only gifted the Russian reader with the works... of A. de Saint-Exupéry, Albert Camus, Harper Lee, Clifford D. Simak, Ray Bradbury, and many other foreign authors but also developed the principles of professional translation. The systematic exposition of these principles became the book "The Living and Dead Word" - a collection of timeless rules of the art of translation and, more broadly, a manifesto for treating the native language with care. Using a rich body of material, Nora Gal analyzes the failures of translators, cleverly notes bureaucratic, schoolboyish, and feminine errors, and reflects on the relationship between the letter and the spirit in a work, literary taste, harmony, and the music of words. The author's sensitivity to the smallest details, her own clear, expressive, and precise style allow one to listen anew to the native speech and perceive it as a gratuitous but demanding gift.