At The New Yorker's Page-Turner weblog Elisabeth Zerofsky has a Q & A with 'D.E. Brooke', the pseudonymous translator of Alain Robbe-Grillet's A Sentimental Novel, about Translating a Novel of Sadism.
Oddly, while I have no problems with pseudonymous authors -- indeed I'd be (almost) perfectly fine with books being published entirely anonymously or namelessly ('almost' only because the lack of corresponding names would complicate categorization -- shelving, indices, etc.) -- but I'm slightly less comfortable with anonymous/pseudonymous translation. Part of that is probably in reaction to the fact that often translators still tend to get ignored anyway -- i.e. aren't named, even if they'd like to get and take credit for their work --, which seems patently unfair, but part of it is also that, if you're going to mess with an author's work (and that's what translators do, after all, for better and worse) you should own up to it.
Sure 'Brooke''s excuse/explanation seems reasonable enough; still ..... (But, no, you aren't going to get any guesses out of me; if s/he chose to be 'D.E. Brooke' in public, that's their choice, and I won't pull back any curtains.)
Oddly, while I have no problems with pseudonymous authors -- indeed I'd be (almost) perfectly fine with books being published entirely anonymously or namelessly ('almost' only because the lack of corresponding names would complicate categorization -- shelving, indices, etc.) -- but I'm slightly less comfortable with anonymous/pseudonymous translation. Part of that is probably in reaction to the fact that often translators still tend to get ignored anyway -- i.e. aren't named, even if they'd like to get and take credit for their work --, which seems patently unfair, but part of it is also that, if you're going to mess with an author's work (and that's what translators do, after all, for better and worse) you should own up to it.
Sure 'Brooke''s excuse/explanation seems reasonable enough; still ..... (But, no, you aren't going to get any guesses out of me; if s/he chose to be 'D.E. Brooke' in public, that's their choice, and I won't pull back any curtains.)