Second Gutekunst Prize for Young Translators Announced
The Goethe-Institut New York is pleased to announce that the 2012 Gutekunst Prize goes to Daniel Clausen, currently a Master's student at Boise State University. Mr. Clausen's winning entry was a 15-page sample translation from Roman unserer Kindheit (Rowohlt Verlag, 2010) by Georg Klein, a novel which received the 2010 Leipzig Book Prize for Fiction.
Daniel Clausen Klein Translation (PDF, 76 KB)
Daniel Clausen received his bachelor’s degree in English and German from Linfield College, and spent his junior year studying in Munich. He then taught English in Innsbruck, Austria for two years through the Austrian Fulbright commission before returning to his hometown of Boise, Idaho for graduate study. He will graduate with a Master’s in English in May. He hopes to pursue a PhD in American literature and continue to translate German poetry and fiction. He is also a bicycle admirer, outdoor enthusiast, and aspiring hobby farmer.
Daniel Clausen commented on translating Klein:
"Translating Georg Klein's Roman unserer Kindheit was a greatly enjoyable project. While all translation is a wonderfully complex puzzle, in this text the unique shifts of point of view, shifts in time, and multiple voices make it puzzling simply to read, let alone carry over into English. Klein's narrative style keeps the reader off balance, even as his images and words provide a vivid and concrete foundation. As I translated—which is after all the closest reading one can give a text—I found Klein transported me fully into the story--I could feel the tar, the pain, the anticipation. My goal was to allow readers of English that same transporting experience and engagement with these characters by faithfully capturing the playful tone, concrete images, and meticulous narrative intricacies of Klein."
The Gutekunst jury, comprised of Mark Anderson of Columbia University, Tess Lewis, book critic and and translator, and Tim Mohr, author and translator, stated in its decision:
"The jury of the Gutekunst Prize has chosen this application as the best of a very impressive and broad selection of entries for the competition's second year. Twenty-five applicants submitted 15 pages from the novel Roman unserer Kindheit, by Georg Klein. The winning entry impressed the judges for its fluid literary style. The judges also noted the precision with which this entry captures the narrator's voice, the wonders and worries of childhood recalled after several decades, and charts the novel's shifts in register that follow the narrative leaps from one perspective to another. Daniel Clausen's translation eloquently recreates the original's fluid, evocative tone of tough-minded nostalgia."
To apply for the annual Gutekunst competition, applicants must be under 35 years of age and, at the time the prize is awarded, not yet have published, nor be under contract for, a book-length translation. All applicants translate the identical text, chosen each year by the Goethe-Institut New York, and all sample translations are anonymously submitted to a jury of experts in German literature and translation. The winner is presented the Gutekunst award at the Helen and Kurt Wolff Symposium, which takes place at the Goethe-Institut Chicago each June. A $2,500 prize purse is also awarded, and the winner has the opportunity to present his or her translation to the symposium. The winning translation is published on the Goethe-Institut New York website.
