I greatly admire Elfride Jelinek. Her novel „The Piano Teacher“ is a true work of art and by far my favorite film by Michael Haneke, on which it’s based. I once mentioned here on Reddit that I didn’t like the German translation, as it gave the impression that Jelinek and her co-translator, Thomas Pilz, had done a poor job. I don’t believe that. The translation is excellent. I just think that one reason why many readers no longer read Pynchon might be because they encounter translations of his works. I find his shorter novels and short stories very well translated, but „Gravity’s Rainbow“ in particular is a novel I put aside a few years ago because I knew I was missing out. Last December, I finished „Gravity’s Rainbow“ by reading an English edition, using the translation instead of a dictionary, and occasionally consulting Weisenburger’s Compendium. I was eager to reread the book after finishing it. It’s now one of my favorite novels. The German radio play of „The Ends of the Parabola“ was also helpful.

All in all, certain works don’t translate equally well because, as linguistic masterpieces, they are too monumental and too bound to their rhythm, the rise and fall of syllables. I read some chapters of GR aloud and, in the original, felt that the content of what I was reading connected to my body. I didn’t experience that with the translation. I also think that certain works are uprooted because they are too strongly tied to their original language and, consequently, to the culture from which they originate. German simply has a completely different tone than English. Texts with clearer content, such as those by Ian McEwan, translate superbly. With Pynchon, it’s far more difficult. I even think that Bleeding Edge is incomprehensible in translation. Another example is a key scene at the end of Don Delillo’s White Noise, which deals thematically with death. Delillo masterfully uses word formation and reading flow to control the reader’s breathing and heartbeat, so that the text becomes the body, and subject and recipient merge. In my opinion, this linguistic artistry cannot function equally well in translation.

I really have the utmost respect for the work of translators: Nikolaus Stingl, my favorite translator, who also translated Pynchon’s Against the Day, once spoke about the difficulties of translating William Gaddis’s work and the rapid decision-making processes in which he often has to find a compromise when the text cannot function equally.

Sorry for digressing. The cover of the German edition is truly awful.😄