Stolen goods
Sir: Mr David Burg's further attempt (Let- ters, 25 October) to justify his rendering of the title of Solzhenitsyn's play, The Love- Girl etc, may safely be left to answer itself. It would be a pity, however, if his letter were allowed to obscure the important issue of principle, bearing on translation in general, from which this already tedious interchange first arose.
As one who is both a translator and a frequent reviewer of translations, I would appeal to publishers to make a practice of indicating in the body of their text (and to hell with the blurb) the original title of the work from which the translation is made, together with its date of composition and/or first publication. Above all some minimal bibliographical information should be sup- plied on the particular text from which the version in question is made. When, for any reason, these details cannot be furnished, some indication of the reason might be offered. I would further submit that all translations from Soviet writings of the kind termed illicit, or 'smuggled', should carry a brief preface outlining at least the publicly known facts about the text and giving some information on the author. The practice of omitting such information is not confined to Mr Burg, of course—his uniqueness lies in defending the omission.
Incidentally, with regard to Solzhenitsyn's alleged wish, now attributed to him by Mr Burg (that his translated work should be published without explanatory matter), this would appear to conflict with the same author's other, better-known, wish: that his work should not be translated at all. One marvels that Mr. Burg's piety should be quite so selective in distinguishing between those preferences of his author which he is pre- pared to respect, and those which he is not.
I hope that Mr Burg and his publishers may reconsider the points outlined above, not only because their present procedure is unscholarly and sloppy, but also because it is a most confounded nuisance. If, miracu- lously, something along the above lines could become standard practice as the result of ventilating Burg's peccadilloes, the art of translation would owe him a debt indeed.
This correspondence Is ROW closed—Editos,
SPECTATOR.
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