Translation Power?

[alice malice]

Somewhere in my work as a translator this thought still offers
considerable guidance. Translation does occur between parties of equal
power—between Norwegians and Italians, for example. But much of what I
do as translation does not take place in a cultural détente. This is
the legacy of centuries of European dominance in the world, the legacy
of the last six decades of American imperialism, Orientalism, the
Crusades, and fear of non-whites. As a translator, a person who often
faces unbridgeable distances and is forced into finding out how they
can be crossed—I, in the American consulate in Athens, wanted to
become a kind of ferry, more than willing to bring an other to my
shore. What I’ve learned since then is that when we commit acts of
generosity out of weakness we set ourselves up for rejection, and that
solicitude is not a viable way to cross distances. What would have
happened, had I simply said “tourism” while representing my father? I
am certain there would have been a follow-up question, more than one.

http://www.kenyonreview.org/kr-online-issue/2014-fall/selections/khaled-mattawa-essay-1-656342/
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l