Interview of the month – Vassilis Tomanas

Interview of the month – Vassilis Tomanas
(translator-publisher)

What was it that drew you to translation in the first place and how did you start working in the field?

It was by mere chance that I took my first chance with translation.  In 1975, a friend of mine asked me to translate a text from a subversive French magazine. The text intrigued me so I started translating it. I found the process very seducing; I felt the knowledge I had acquired and was using only in various conversations could be meaningful. A new communication space had opened up for me, and it included people I didn’t know so well, so, after I completed my military service, I started translating incessantly (that was in June 1978).

How do you deal with the difficulties, challenges, etc. of the translation process? What about literary translations? Tell as a bit about your translation that was awarded with the State Prize for the Literary Translation of Foreign Literature into Greek in 1999.

I try to capture the spirit of the writer, in other words, the way he/she perceives things. I usually don’t find it difficult to understand the meaning because I practically always translate the work of writers whose views reflect mine closely. When it comes to difficult words, I use dictionaries. Note that I haven’t lived abroad, so I can only translate texts that do not contain many modern idiomatic expressions. Of course, I always turn to the dictionary and to friends that have lived abroad. At the same time, I write down any new expression I come across in newspapers, magazines or books. I have been accused of staying too close to the writers I translate, because I try to convey their writing style and language. For instance, Kafka is a minimalist writer, using simple language, with no literary wording. If you read older translations of his works by acknowledged writers, you will see his style has become more literary; which is wrong in my opinion. You have to keep his minimalist writing. On the other hand, Thomas Bernhard, writes in a very peculiar way: his sentences extend to one and a half, even two pages, and include branches with relative clauses here, concise phrases there, while maintaining a certain musicality. This is the style I tried to maintain in the translation for which I was awarded the State Prize in 1999 (title of the original: Correction). Some people believe I was successful, some not. It’s funny, but “Correction” and Sennett’s “The Craftsman”[1] share the same story: in the subchapter telling the story of two houses, Sennett discusses philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s obsession with his sister’s house. It is the same story that  Bernhard includes in his “Correction”.

What is it that drives a translator to found his own publishing house? 

What drove me to establish Nissides publishing house was the fact that I found it difficult to get paid for my work. I begged like a beggar to get the money I was owed, which was peanuts compared to the effort needed for a translation. In the end, I was getting paid in books. Instead of money, I got books which I then sold to gather the money I was owed. Today, running my own publishing house, I am in a position to freely choose what to translate and publish, and therefore I don’t depend on other people’s choices.

You have translated many a book. How do you choose the titles you translate and publish?

Based on whether they speak to me or not, if I believe, according to my own criteria, that they can be the wake-up call for some readers or help to change the world around us. Naturally, always based on my perception of what leads to people’s autonomy and mutual collaboration, of what can contribute to changing the society we live in.

What do you think of translation and publishing nowadays and what does the future hold?

Publishing houses are businesses, they need to survive. They therefore act like any other business; they go after the book that will sell well. I am not in a position to know what large businesses should do, because I own a small publishing house run by one and only person. This means that I am not faced with the problems of a large business, although I also have to work hard for the survival of my small company. I cannot aim for the best sellers, but I look for the books that in today’s hard times can give some answers, can spark thought, and draw the interest of more readers. In any case, some large publishing companies are now well organized, they respect their collaborators and fulfill their obligations. As for the future, some new publishing initiatives have appeared, and they have been developed within not strictly commercial spaces. This is encouraging, because new things can only come about through innovative initiatives. Let’s not forget what our beloved Aris Alexandrou had said when asked about the translators who are young and new in the field: the work that is done with passion always has something to offer, regardless of any misconstructions and mistakes.

[1] The presentation of the “The Craftsman” is where we met Mr. Tomanas, see picture above.