(no subject)

[vriad_lee]

creating lightweight art is like following a winding path until you're bored, then (if you get bored) dashing into the woods and knowing for sure that you will find another path sooner or later that can take you to most wonderful places, or nowhere. anywhere.
translating is like building a copy of a house with bricks of a different form than those from which the original house was built. i have no idea how anyone can derive joy from this activity, beyond the low satisfaction of solving a task or knowing that one is doing one's job comparatively well

Comments

[gedankenpause.livejournal.com]

Maybe the joy of getting to know a certain text very close? Much closer than on can understand it by only reading it, since most details stay unseen?
But to me it also seems to be a rather boring work and there are probably only few texts I would really like to know that close.

[vriad-lee.livejournal.com]

in theory, yes, but i don't see how it works in practice. i can't imagine knowing any text so closely that it becomes unambiguous, that i don't have doubts about any of it. and then again, there are things that can't be copied, like some phrases that have to be concise, sound a certain way, or contain a certain mix of allusions that can not be made the same way in an other language.