ABSTRACT
Paying attention to how the translator had read the text before them, making one interpretative choice after another, provided a model for reading, even if we might disagree with that reading. Technology brings the translator and translations into the classroom: Whitaker’s students use an online corpus of Baudelaire translations; and we can hear Paul Celan read “Todesfuge” in German on YouTube and how that might speak to Paul Felstiner’s decision to retain some German words and phrases in his translation. Schwartz writes that only in translating the novel did she realize certain words were repeated throughout the novel; she singles out the adjective “cheerful”–often used ironically and ominously. Finally, focusing on the translator herself can also open up discussions about marginalization and literary history within discussions of material agency and mediations, as well as of readings of the text.
