In Translation
de Sherry Simon
Since the late 1960s Sheila Fischman has worked tirelessly at making the best works of Quebecois literature available to English-language readers. Anglophones who have read works by Michel Tremblay, Jacques Poulin, Yves Beauchemin, Francois Gravel, Anne Hebert, Roch Carrier, and Marie-Claire Blais most likely know these works only through Fischman's subtly and faithfully crafted translations. In Translation celebrates Fischman's more than 150 book-length translations from French to English. It combines essays on the friendships created through translation with essays on the art of translation and on the changing context of literary translation in Canada. Distinguished contributors include Alberto Manguel, Commissioner of Official Languages Graham Fraser, authors Gaetan Soucy, Lise Bissonnette, and Louise Desjardins, and fellow-translators Lori Saint Martin, Michael Henry Heim, Luise von Flotow, and Kathy Mezei. The volume also includes interviews with Fischman and a selection of her prose. A fitting tribute to an outstanding career, In Translation illuminates the artistry behind a difficult craft by considering the work of one of its finest practitioners.
