this little art [kate briggs]

This Little Art is an extended essay about the art of translation. It looks at the author’s process as she translates a series of lectures made by Roland Barthes towards the end of his life. It also examines the complex relationships between Gide and his translator, Dorothy Bussey and Thomas Mann and his translator, Helen Lowe-Porter, whose versions of his novels helped establish Mann’s reputation in the Anglo-Saxon world.

And straight away I’ve walked into the first trap, which is the kind of trap Brigg’s book sets out to explain and elucidate. I used the word “version”. Is a translation a “version’ or is it a re-presentation of the thing itself, which is the work in its original language? When we read a translated novel, to what extent could it be said that we’re reading the work of the author, and to what extent are we reading the work of the translator? 

Briggs’ book takes on all these questions and a thousand more, all questions that arise from the practice of her ‘little art’. At all times, her writing exhibits a fascination and love for the very business of writing (which dovetails neatly with Barthes’ similar passion). How words are put together, how the order that words are strung together matters, resonates, fails or succeeds. How meaning and language play on one another, sometimes tripping each other up. How the writer’s mind works, no matter whether the writing is ‘original’ or not. 

Briggs also exhibits much of the playfulness that Barthes so enjoyed. Her book is a dance, of words and ideas. This is true down to the very way in which the text is presented on the page, (hat-tip once again to the publisher for not selecting the cheaper option). This Little Art manages to pull of the trick of being thought-provoking and entertaining, as well as both scholarly and moving. Translation is an undervalued art, and Briggs’ book goes some way towards giving it the credit it is due.