Early this month, Ms. Kaitlin (my Signature manager) and I were having a discussion about the nature of translation, and she recommended a book to me: Essays Two by Lydia Davis. I was intrigued and read the New York Times article she sent me about the book later in the day, then I totally forgot about our conversation. With two to four hours of homework a night and end-of-semester projects to juggle, reading yet another book was nowhere on my to-do list.
However, a week later I received an email from Ms. Kaitlin informing me that the book, which she had the school order for me, was on the way. I was surprised and bemused; it was very kind of her to go so far for me, and as such I began to be intrigued by it.
A few days later, I swung by her office to pick it up and ended up laying on her sofa for an hour chatting about everything. That’s how it always happens with Ms. Kaitlin and I; the minutes seem to disappear whenever we talk!
The book struck me at first sight: a beautiful Carolina blue (it's lighter in person) with bold white font with a surprising heft. If nothing else, it would make a beautiful aesthetic addition to my bookshelf.
A week and a half later, the semester ended. I found myself curled up in a gorgeously comfortable armchair on the top floor of the library, right in front of twenty-foot-tall windows that peer out over the woods behind our school. There was snow on the branches of the trees.
I began the first essay, Twenty One Joys of Translating, and Silver Lining.
Half way through I pulled out my phone and sent a frantic email to Ms. Kaitlin:
Halfway through the first essay in Essays Two and it’s blowing my mind. It’s so good. It’s taken me 45 minutes to get through 20 pages because I keep on have to just stare off into the distance and think. Thank you so so much for this
That is, typos and all, word-for-word what I sent her. And it’s completely true; a book that I was rather dismissive of (sorry Ms. Kaitlin…) turned out to be one of the most striking things I’ve read in years. There were so many notes that described me and my experience with translating perfectly.
Davis spends two paragraphs discussing the intricate differences between ‘he began to sing’ and ‘he began singing,’ and which one she used in order to convey a specific meaning. She describes translating as a kind of “nerdy fiddling,” which is a phrase I LOVE and perfectly depicts so many conversations that I’ve had with Ms. Diane and Dr. Robert. She talks about the “friendly, open expression combining willingness and bafflement” that I have received many a time while ranting about a particular phrase to family and friend.
In short: Lydia Davis is awesome, and I’m totally reading more of her work (she might even convince me to read Proust…). But the bigger lesson here? Listen to your mentors! They are smart and experienced and know you very well.
When they recommend something to you, even if you’re initially hesitant, give it a try. It’ll probably end up being freakin’ awesome.
Thanks, Ms. Kaitlin.
:)