The Writer and His Translator: “You Have to Keep Entirely in the Background”
Jan Costin Wagner’s crime novels have been published in 14 languages so far. Marie-Claude Auger translated two of his books into French. In this interview the two tell us how their collaboration works and what decisive quality a translator needs to possess.
Ms. Auger, you’ve already translated two books by Jan Costin Wagner. Can you recall one sentence that was particularly difficult to translate?
Auger: There was one sentence in Winter of the Lions. A woman is dreaming of gliding on rails over the snow and putting the world back in order. It may sound simple, but I thought a long time about how I could translate “put the world back in order.” It doesn’t work literally. I finally found a solution that carries the same poetic force: “rétablir l’ordre du monde.”
Wagner: Putting the world back in order in the sense of restoring it: that is almost the leitmotiv of my novels, because they always portray a world that has come undone.
Mr. Wagner, you are Hessian, but your crime novels are set in Finland. Why?
Wagner: I have very close connections to Finland. My wife is from Finland, and I lived there for a long time. That is why I set Kimmo, the protagonist of the novels, there, too. For me, though, it’s not about Finland as a region, but as a basic mood that suits the characters and their experiences.
How are your stories received in Finland?
Wagner: Very well. So far, Ice Moon and Silence have been translated into Finnish. The Finns feel that they are reflected in the characters and stories. I think that the novels also show that I like Finland very much. It was also very nice for me that our relatives were able to read my books – and had to.
Ms. Auger, you translated “Silence” into French. What do you like most about Detective Kimmo Jooenta?
Auger: His fragility, which originates from the death of his wife in the book Ice Moon. He experienced first hand that moment when life keels over. That is what makes him so human in my eyes. That is why I feel close to him.
How important is it for you to be able to identify with the book? Could you translate a book that you don’t like at all?
Auger: No. I don’t necessarily need to identify with a story, but I wouldn’t want to translate a badly written novel. Then I’d rather work on a cookbook or travel guide. Fortunately, by now I am privileged to be able to choose the books I translate. That wasn’t always the case.
How familiar are you with Finland?
Auger: Not at all. Yet when a book has the power to create images, then I don’t need to have been in the country. I am familiar with Finland through the books.
Matthias Brandt reads from Jan Costin Wagner’s Silence: a novel of guilt and atonement, loss and crime. The audio book was published by Eichborn Verlag.
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“Silence” is almost 300 pages long. How long did it take you to translate it?
Auger: About five months.
And how long did it take you to write it, Mr. Wagner?
Wagner: The most recent intervals between publication were two years. And I need that much space – the feeling I’m not under pressure.
Auger: Pressure is becoming an increasing problem for us translators. When a publisher buys a book, sometimes the translations need to be in the bookshops immediately. You roughly manage one hundred pages in a month. But, I prefer to allow myself more time. Shortly before submitting a work, I set it aside for a while, then read it only in French and correct it. That final phase is the best time and very important.
Do you work together during the translation phase?
Wagner: I don’t like to make any demands on the translator myself. The dialogue between us can be more or less intensive. We talk about longer threads, about content, about imagery, but also about very banal questions of comprehension. In our case there was hardly any of that, so it was quite uncomplicated. From our email correspondence, I immediately perceived that Marie-Claude was able to gain access to my novels. Fundamentally, I’m open to any debate. But, at the same time I don’t want to force my opinion on her – I respect the translator’s creative process.
Does it ever give you the feeling you’ve given up control over your book?
Wagner: There’s no avoiding it. Yet, I trust that the translator will translate one to one. Not in the sense of a literal translation, but that the images and the substance are precisely translated. In my books, what is not said or is said between the lines is very important.
As a translator, do you have to now and then decide to deviate greatly from the original, because it’s otherwise not translatable?
Auger: I change nothing. I really translate the text that is there. The role of the translator is to keep entirely in the background. Although I am writing, I am not the author.
Wagner: That’s very interesting. For me it’s a very decisive quality that a translator must possess: to be able to retreat behind the novel yet at the same time to develop your own linguistic power.
Auger: I would go so far to say it is a poor translation if the presence of the translator is perceptible. Translate does not mean interpret. It is really “carrying over.”
Do you think that the work of translators is sufficiently appreciated?
Auger: Translators are frequently not mentioned. That is changing now. In France, we in the association of literary translators are fighting to have the name of the translator cited in television and radio programmes, too. Because the text they are reading there is not the text by Jan Costin Wagner, but its translation.
Mr. Wagner, do you speak French?
Wagner: No, I’m afraid not.
Have you read other translations of your books?
Wagner: Of course, the English ones, naturally as well as the Finnish.
Can you find yourself in them?
Wagner: Absolutely. John Brownjohn translated Ice Moon, the translations of Silence and Winter of the Lions are by Anthea Bell. I was very pleased with both.
Would you translate your books yourself if you could?
Wagner: If I could speak other languages perfectly, I would do it. I trust myself the most. But that will remain a hypothetical question because I will never master another language that well.
The interview was held by Anne-Kathrin Lange
Jan Costin Wagner was born in Langen in 1972. He studied literature and history. Today he is a freelance writer and musician and resides near Frankfurt am Main. He received the 2002 Marlowe Prize for his debut novel Nachtfahrt. The American edition of the novel Ice Moon was nominated for the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. That same year, Silence was awarded the Deutscher Krimi Preis.
