Alexander Pfau

Megan McDowell Readings

02/03/2024


    Alliteration is a key writing skill, something that makes writing sound like poetry, music to the ear. Therefore it is fitting that Megan McDowell, with her outstanding translational skill, has a name with such an important literary construct. Her presentation this weekend was splendid, and exactly the kind of talk I was hoping to hear. She answered the basic questions that a person not familiar with translations had no clue about, like how she got into translating, and made money off of it. Extremely insightful on her own translational talents as well, she catered to us and described her method for creating a great translation as well. One of the major things she discussed though was translating dead writers. The difficulty with them stems from the fact that as a translator, it's impossible to communicate with them. McDowell's style often mandates intrusions of her own dialogue in the writer's initial work, which she doesn't feel comfortable doing without talking to the author. Her work with living authors is spectacular however, and is something I will check out in the future after this weekend's reading.


    Speaking of this weekend's readings, they were certainly unsettling. McDowell's translation of horror stories seemed to create the same "visceral reaction" that I hope the readers in the original language would have felt. One of my favorite stories was the one revolving around the young girls and their jealousy. McDowell's ability to port Spanish slang into American slang was sensational, something I definitely would have struggled with. Aside from the unsettling horror the story created, it tackled feminine ideals and teen insecurity as well, something I'm interested in. It was interesting to see how human greed led to the death of two innocent people, just because a girl didn't get what she wanted. This could have been a commentary on human nature, as well as a horror story. The other stories were interesting as well, but what struck me the most was her ability to create familiarity between the reader and Hispanic norms that I did not know. For example, burying bottles to attract the rain, something  I would have had no idea was important culturally.

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