tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949421001644904537.post3538654783917901325..comments2024-01-24T18:56:58.635-08:00Comments on EXPLORING CULTURES: A Global Blog (all languages): Translating foreign SF novels into English still not routine in U.S. book businessUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949421001644904537.post-5124708811036834412015-11-06T20:44:40.477-08:002015-11-06T20:44:40.477-08:00From the internets, part 2, FROM ANOTHER FRIEND OF...From the internets, part 2, FROM ANOTHER FRIEND OF THIS BLOG:<br /><br />''Thanks so much for your enthusiasm, Dan!<br /><br /> <br /><br />Like you, I feel that foreign works in translation should be welcomed with open arms in America. It seems so arrogant to think that the pool of American sci-fi writers suffices to meet the demands of the sci-fi market. Yes, they certainly do push out books, but how many are great books? How many are truly original? So very few... As a sci-fi fan myself, I can say, "My needs are not being met, because I have yet to come up against a truly great sci-fi novel." (Sorry!)<br /><br /> <br /><br />We American readers would appreciate being able to read books by foreign writers, with their alien viewpoint. As it is now, we have no choice: we're stuck with that pool of writers our publishers favor, or with the bewildering e-book offering. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I'm not saying I've uncovered any truly platinum-level sci-fi fiction here in France where I live now, but I see writing that is superior to work being published and gobbled up in the USA. And given the chance to reach millions of American readers, masterpieces of French science fiction literature just may appear. The dream of every editor...if he or she will risk investing in a good translation.''<br /><br /><br />AND FROM ANOTHER FRIEND OF THIS BLOG:<br /><br />''Actually, there was a time when translating foreign SF novels into English was almost routine (back in the 1960s and 1970s), but it was often an editorial decision at the top (cf. Wollheim) and readers may have been more adventurous as well. This was also in the days before the crushing of the mid-list, when middling sales could be justified as long as bookstores restocked their shelves with the same titles.<br /><br />As I see it, tastes have ossified and publishers will only place so many bets on [unproven or unknown in North America] SF authors from overseas (no other publications in English, no international awards), especially considering the added costs of translation....'' <br />DANIELBLOOMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05130493903696077379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-949421001644904537.post-1731296782203621282015-11-06T20:41:24.270-08:002015-11-06T20:41:24.270-08:00via the internets: FROM A FRIEND OF THIS BLOG:
&#...via the internets: FROM A FRIEND OF THIS BLOG:<br /><br />''Actually, there was a time when translating foreign SF novels into English was almost routine (back in the 1960s and 1970s), but it was often an editorial decision at the top (cf. Wollheim) and readers may have been more adventurous as well. This was also in the days before the crushing of the mid-list, when middling sales could be justified as long as bookstores restocked their shelves with the same titles.<br /><br />As I see it, tastes have ossified and publishers will only place so many bets on unproven authors (no other publications in English, no international awards), especially considering the added costs of translation....'' <br />DANIELBLOOMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05130493903696077379noreply@blogger.com