The much sought after Italian-to-English translator, Ann Goldstein, has made translation a skill to be celebrated as much as writing. Goldstein, whose name on a book jacket adds credence, is the celebrated translator of Italian literary works by prominent authors, including Elena Ferrante, Jhumpa Lahiri, Primo Levi and Pier Paolo Pasolini. She heads the copy department at The New Yorker and she is a recipient of PEN Renato Poggioli Translation Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is in Australia as a guest of the Sydney Writers’ Festival and spoke to NEENA BHANDARI about her passion for Italian language, the challenges and future of translation, and the surprising international recognition Ferrante’s books have brought her. Excerpts from her interview published in SCROLL.IN:
Has it been tough to deal with all the attention and publicity that is usually given to the writer and not the translator? The Neapolitan Quartet (My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child] by Ferrante, whose identity is a closely guarded secret, has sold over a million copies and counting.
Yes [laughs]. Of course. I didn’t plan to be the voice of Ferrante or to be the speaker for the books. That came as a kind of a surprise to me.