Qingyang Zhou

on translating Marica Bodrožić

Bodrožić’s poem contains plenty of neologisms, which encourage the translator to experiment with the target language and actively interpret the meaning of the poem in order to find the best translation. For instance, the word “Herluft” in the title is entirely the poet’s original creation. I chose to translate it as “Hither-Air” in order to evoke a poetic tone and to create an alliteration with the preceding word, “heritage,” (Herkunft). The word Gebiet in the fourth line can be translated as area, territory, region, zone, domain, or sphere. I initially decided to use “territory,” since the narrator appears to be quite possessive of her heritage. However, in English, “territory” triggers associations with the animal world, which is perhaps not the original intention of the poet. I eventually chose “turf,” since it can be defined as “an area or sphere of activity regarded as someone’s personal territory,” which transitions well into the discussion of the narrator’s Yugoslavian birth in the following line. Bodrožić also describes towers (Türme) as volljährig, which means “full-aged,” “mature,” or “adult,” bestowing human qualities on inanimate objects. The adjective that I chose in the translation, “full-fledged,” can be used to describe both people and objects. This word might sound less strange to English speakers, without deviating too much from the original text.

Though difficult decisions had to be made in the translation process, the linguistic affinities of English and German can sometimes allow for the transmission of similar tones, feelings, and sensations. One of the most striking features of the poem is the use of the subjunctive mode. My English translation preserves this feature, thus conveying the narrator’s unbounded imaginations and intense longing for the realization of fictional situations. The original German segment of “ein Zuspieler / der Wartenden, der da Hockenden, der auf die Grenzöffnungen / Hoffenden” has a rhythmic flow, since all the short phrases end with en. To create a similar auditory experience in English, I chose to terminate each clause of the translation with ing, even though in German grammar Wartenden, Hockendedn, and Hoffenden all function as adjectives, rather than as verbs.