On the Perils of Translating Men in Power

ABSTRACT

This article explores the challenges and dangers of rendering and translating the language of powerful leaders who use fragmented and problematic grammatical constructs in their speeches.

KEYWORDS:

• Isaac Babel
• translation
• fragmented speech
• ungrammaticality
• linguistic competence
• Donald Trump

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Peter Constantine

Peter Constantine's recent translations include The Essential Writings of Rousseau, The Essential Writings of Machiavelli, and works by Tolstoy, Gogol, and Voltaire. His translation of the complete works of Isaac Babel received the Koret Jewish Literature Award and a National Jewish Book Award citation. A Guggenheim Fellow, he was awarded the PEN Translation Prize for Six Early Stories by Thomas Mann, and the National Translation Award for The Undiscovered Chekhov. His upcoming translation of Augustine's Confessions will be published by W.W. Norton in 2018. He is the director of the Program in Literary Translation at the University of Connecticut.