Because I'm 99% monolingual English, I have been and continue to be reliant upon and grateful for translators to bring world literature into my experience. Translations were a big part of my reading throughout school: wouldn’t know about the cyclops if not for a translator; wouldn’t know about Hansel and Gretel; wouldn’t know about the loaves and fishes; wouldn’t know any of the ancients, Mayans, Romans, you name them; wouldn’t know Ibsen or Strindberg or Pirandello; wouldn’t know the Russian novelists I’m a fanboy of; etc., etc.
While attending the University of California, Santa Barbara, in the late 1990’s I took classes from two acclaimed translators, John Nathan and Suzanne Jill Levine. John Nathan’s class was Japanese Literature in Translation. Suzanne Jill Levine’s class was a seminar on Jorge Luis Borges in English. Examples from both teachers were used, as well as from other translators. Terrific classes. I learned to appreciate the translated manuscript as a double work of art, author and translator.
I am recalling that time because I’ve been recently binge reading English translations of various originals, the titles mostly random choices via a recommendation or something jumping off the shelf at me, all serendipitous and propitious. Here’s a list, with the original copyright date and the date of the translation, plus I’ve included a few quotes from the last two books on the list.
The School of Night, by Karl Ove Knausgaard, 2023
English translation from the Norwegian, by Martin Aitkin, 2025
Annihilation, by Michel Houellebecq, 2022
English translation from the French, by Shaun Whiteside, 2024
Hurricane Season, by Fernanda Melchor, 2016
English translation from the Spanish, by Sophie Hughes, 2020
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne, 1870
English translation from the French, by Mendor T. Brunetti, 1969
On the Calculation of Volume II, by Solvej Balle, 2020
English translation from the Danish, by Barbara Haveland, 2024
Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird, by Agustina Bazterrica, 2020
English translation from the Spanish, by Sarah Moses, 2023
Restoration, by Ave Barrera, 2019
English translation from the Spanish, by Ellen Jones and Robin Myers, 2025
Jaguar’s Roar, by Micheliny Verunschk, 2026
English translation from the Portuguese, by Juliana Barbassa, 2026
The Books of Jacob, by Olga Tokarczuk, 2014
English translation from the Polish, by Jennifer Croft, 2021
Flights, by Olga Tokarczuk, 2007
English translation from the Polish, by Jennifer Croft, 2017
Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon, by Mizuke Tsujimura, 2010
English translation from the Japanese, by Yuki Tejima, 2025
The Suicides, by Antonio Di Benedetto, 1969
English translation from the Spanish, by Esther Allen, 2025)
Strange Pictures, by Uketsu, 2022
English translation from the Japanese, by Jim Rion, 2025
The Practice of Everyday Life, by Michel de Certeau, 1980
English translation from the French, by Steven F. Rendall, 1984
“Marginality is today no longer limited to minority groups…Marginality is becoming universal.”
Perfection, by Vincenzo Latronico, 2022
English translation from the Italian, by Sophie Hughes, 2025
“They spent a few long weekends by the Baltic Sea, the odd off-season week in the Alps or on Greek Islands—places with wide, uninterrupted views and good Wi-Fi.”
“Their idea of a revolutionary future didn’t go beyond gender balance on corporate boards, electric cars, vegetarianism. Not only had [they] not had the chance to fight for a radically different world, but they couldn’t even imagine it.”
“Food was part of their culture, and they would discuss it among themselves, in the same way previous generations had discussed films, books, and politics. It helped define who they were.”
I heart translators.
