The world between our fingers: The importance of reading translated fiction in a global world

With reading more popular than ever, it is no wonder that the industry has seen a rise in the popularity of translated fiction. The Booker Prize Foundation announced that the sale of translated fiction had risen 22% between 2021 and 2023 and only continues to rise. However, this is a trend that can only be seen really in the last few years. Previously, the average British reader was unlikely to pick up a translated novel, most frequently due to a fear of being unable to identify with the narratives presented, the notion of stories being ‘lost in translation’. Despite this, it is clear that in the rapidly globalising world, the desire for reading works from other cultures, from different languages, stems from our desire to understand. To be able to exist in the world as it is now. But have we gotten any better at understanding voices that are not our own? And how has that impacted the culture of connectivity that demands to be seen in the global state?

Sebald captures a universal struggle of understanding humanity through history

W.G. Sebald’s The Rings of Saturn, translated from German in multiple English editions, follows the nameless narrator on their walking tour of Suffolk, tying in fiction, history, travel, and memoir into a new hybrid of a story. Of particular interest are the themes that Sebald weaves together: a blend of identity, time, and memory, which strays away from the traditional conventions of English literature. The novel is reflective and introspective, considering perspectives such as the reader’s place in the world and how we exist within history. The narrator details “[i]f we view ourselves from a great height, it is frightening to realise how little we know about our species, our purpose, and our end.” In this, Sebald captures a universal struggle of understanding humanity through history. The reason behind why we turn to literature and art as a whole, is in search of gaining just a little more understanding about the impossible. To be able to find comfort, especially with the way the world is today. Moreover, it would be fair to say that delving into translated fiction is one facet of this that uncovers more avenues, more ways to find answers. When we consider perspectives other than our own, from the cultures seemingly unrecognisable in conjunction with our own experience, we can discover connections that we hadn’t seen before.

It poses the question of how much do we really understand? What can we learn from these translations, that arguably become their separate works in their own right?

However, reading in translation can still have its unavoidable flaws. Aside from detailing experiences that seem alien and irreconcilable with our lives, the act of translation itself can pose issues. Cliché as it is, the possibilities of ideas and concepts being ‘lost in translation’ stem from the fact that translation can never be exact. With over seven thousand languages spoken in the world today, no two languages will have the same grammar, the same structures, the same nuances that only their native speakers would know. This is what makes translation such a difficult task to take on: to be able to convey exactly what the original author meant. It poses the question of how much do we really understand? What can we learn from these translations that arguably become their separate works in their own right? With the wrong translation, a work can be kept from a wider audience who may have enjoyed it further.

This forms much of the discourse surrounding Emily Wilson’s translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey, both having been heavily contested due to Wilson’s more modern takes on Homer’s original epics. However, many modern readers may not have picked the texts up if not for Wilson’s translations, which were deemed more accessible. Accessibility is subsequently a major feature of translations as they are made accessible to different audiences. Overall, while there are issues with translated fiction, having the ability to read these different perspectives is the most important undertaking, as it allows us to read different views which are not our own. Translated literature allows us to understand different people and different cultures on a greater level than we previously could

The rise of translated fiction and the continued globalisation of the modern world force us to listen to one another on a deeper level. The world is inextricably linked and demands that we better understand one another to keep up in the ever-evolving world. Through this, we must also consider ourselves more deeply and the ‘shared experiences’ of humanity that are only made visible through art forms such as literature.