Alex Zucker
If you have read any contemporary Czech novels in English, you haveprobably read the words of American translator Alex Zucker. Zucker hastranslated more than a dozen books of contemporary Czech literature,most recently Case Closed by Patrik Ourednik. Zucker sat down with The Prague Post recently on his first return to Prague in several years.
The Prague Post: One of your first major translations was City Sister Silver by Jachym Topol. How did that come about, and why did you change the title from Sister, as it is in Czech?
Alex Zucker: I met Jachym originally in New York City, so I alreadyknew him when I came back to Prague and I worked with him translating afew of his shorter pieces. The opportunity came up to translate thenovel and I was chosen by the publisher to do so. Regarding the title,the novel is split into three sections: “City,” “Sister,” and “Silver.”The word “sestra” has a variety of meanings in Czech, including one’sbiological sister, but also nurse and nun. There was no way I couldreally capture that multiplicity of meanings in English so I decided tocombine the names of the sections. I asked Jachym about it and heapproved of the idea, so we went with it.
PP: But you did not translate Topol’s novel Gargling with Tar, which came out earlier this year. Why not?
AZ: There was an application process with the publisher so they coulddecide which translator would do that novel. I applied with two samplechapters from another one of Topol’s books, as they had asked, and theychose someone else, but then announced that the application process wasfor Gargling with Tar...It’s a real shame that authors don’tget to decide who translates them, but what can you do? I long agodecided I’m not going to get bitter about this industry.
PP: Do you subscribe to any particular translation theory?
AZ: No. Theory is a nice way to understand a translation, but not todo one. Theory is useless when you’re sitting down with a text. In theend, it’s you alone with words. A translation is an accumulation ofchoices based on context. How many ways can you call someone a jerk? Youchoose the right word based on the other words around it.
PP: What are your plans for the immediate future?
AZ: It looks like I’ll be returning to Prague this summer to teach acourse at Anglo-American University. It won’t be a straight translationcourse because there would be too many difficulties with languageskills. Instead, I’ll teach a course on literature in translation. It’s avery interesting question of which books get translated, and why. Thisis something I’d like to investigate further, and teach.
Stay tuned for part 3 of The Prague Post’s interview with translator Alex Zucker.
