What does it mean to translate "To the Lighthouse", what does it even mean to translate?

Does everything become clearer, clearer when you switch from one language to another, because you have to get to the bottom of what is meant, empathize with it?

Or are certainties lost because accuracy remains unattainable and only approximations are possible?

Andrew Plathaus

Responsible editor for literature and literary life.

  • Follow I follow

In Nevermore, the latest novel by French writer and translator Cécile Wajsbrot, a translator in Dresden works on Virginia Woolf's novel.

She - "I came to mourn someone," it says at one point - mourns the loss of a writer friend, thinks she sometimes meets her at night while taking a walk, thinks she'll be able to talk to her again.

The nameless first-person narrator finds and loses herself not only in the work of the English author and in the language, but also in the city to which she took a scholarship and in her memories, which stretch as far as New York and even into the deserted city Pripyat at Chernobyl show.

There's no question that translating "Nevermore" from French was a delicate endeavor.

No wonder that Anne Weber, who received the German Book Prize in 2020 for her novel "Annette, ein Heldinnenepos", is a specialist who is herself at home as a writer and translator in German and French.

A review in the FAZ called the novel a "masterful book about disappearance, absence as a basic human experience".

On September 21, Cécile Wajsbrot and Anne Weber presented "Nevermore" at the Rheingau Literature Festival at the Baron Knyphausen winery.

It was moderated by Andreas Platthaus.

"Nevermore" by Cécile Wajsbrot was translated from French by Anne Weber, was published by Wallstein Verlag, has 229 pages and costs 22 euros.

Every Sunday morning, the FAZ books podcast alternately publishes talks about books and topics, interviews with authors, readings, literary puzzles and recitations from the Frankfurt anthology.

All episodes and other articles on the topics discussed can be found here.

You can easily subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Deezer and never miss a new episode.

Of course we are also available in other podcast apps, just search for "FAZ books podcast".

You can also find us in the FAZ.NET app.

You can find all of our podcast offerings here.