Anamorphosis. From Kafka Translator’s Workshop

Based on my own translations of Franz Kafka’s texts (first of all The Diaries), I analyze past and contemporary translation trends, especially with regard to translations of works published in critical editions. The texts left by Kafka were repeatedly subject of far- reaching editorial modifications before their first publication. From the point of view of modern editorial standards, these modifications should be considered too big. That is why the critical edition of Kafka’s works, initiated in Germany in the 1980s, aimed at cleaning the texts of later retouches and returning to the “original” Kafka. This also presented translators with previously unknown tasks – many of Kafka’s works had to be translated anew in practice.

Based on my own translations of Franz Kafka’s texts (first of all The Diaries), I analyze past and contemporary translation trends, especially with regard to translations of works published in critical editions. The texts left by Kafka were repeatedly subject of far- reaching editorial modifications before their first publication. From the point of view of modern editorial standards, these modifications should be considered too big. That is why the critical edition of Kafka’s works, initiated in Germany in the 1980s, aimed at cleaning the texts of later retouches and returning to the “original” Kafka. This also presented translators with previously unknown tasks – many of Kafka’s works had to be translated anew in practice.