In Translation

By William Zheng-Kang Hassett

In translation there is a choice: should an author elect to capture the object of translation, or rather aim to conjure that same feeling or image that that object’s reference evoked from its original form; in translation it is this choice that leads to two sets of failures in making the untranslatable—uncaptured or unconjured—for the ancient Greeks’ “sophrosyne;” some say temperance, some say moderation, but all say we cannot and do not know for sure, those who do know no longer live, and as such there can be no final hunt, no grand trap lain—uncaptured or unconjured—for the Portuguese “saudade;” melancholy, nostalgic, these are close; they evoke a similar feeling; but the gap lies in the fact that the word is said to be inherent to the people, an identity—uncaptured or unconjured or however—through study of Plato, Aristotle, Homer, the olden, it is said that some have been able to see this “sophrosyne,” via an embedding in the texts, and begin to grasp and ultimately capture meaning, and in learning Portuguese and living and conversing, it is said that some have had that “saudade” bloom within, unwittingly or otherwise, so we find that in search of the untranslatable, in an airless chase or a desperate dying expression, some lucky few find themselves translated, unable to return to that object they were previously; or, lost in translation.

Art by Anika Chatterjee.