Rormarie Waldrop and theories of translation

Since the 1960s, the German-born US-American poet, Rosmarie Waldrop, has translated over 40 different works, largely from French and German, including 14 volumes by the Jewish French-language writer, Edmond Jabès (Jabès was expelled from Egypt in 1956 during the Suez Crisis). In 2003, Waldrop was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government, and in 2008 she received the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation in 2008, for her translation of Ulf Stolterfoht’s book, Lingos I-IX. As well as practising translation, however, Waldrop has also written several significant essays which reflect on different theories of translation and their implications for practice. Much of these considerations are taken up with the question of the relation between translation and writing, of thinking the ways in which theories of writing might suggest the lines for developing a specific form of poetic practice. This essay provides an overview of Waldrop’s central thoughts on translation and contextualises these in relation to some of the major theories of literary translation. In the latter part of the essay, these ideas are developed in specific relation to Waldrop’s translations of the work of Edmond Jabès and to the notion of writing practice it suggests.