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In this week’s episode of the podcast, Gilbert Cruz talks with Juliana Barbassa and Gregory Cowles about the special translation issue of the Book Review, and with Tina Jordan and Elisabeth Egan about the novel “Bridget Jones’s Diary”, which was published in USA 25 years ago. this summer.
What makes translation an art? How does a translator’s personality affect their work? Why do we see so many translations from some countries and almost none from others? These are just some of the questions addressed in a recent translation issue of the Book Review, which came about after Cowles noticed “a heavier than usual concentration of very strong literature in translation coming down the pipeline.”
This matched Barbassa’s interest in translated literature. Before coming to the Book Review, she spent years reporting and editing international news, and says, “I would often find myself turning to the fiction produced in that place” to really understand it.
Also in this week’s episode, Elisabeth Egan and Tina Jordan discuss “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” released in the United States 25 years ago this summer. “I discovered, looking back on Bridget’s life before my 50th birthday, that she wasn’t as funny to me as she used to be,” says Egan, who wrote an essay about the novel called “Bridget Jones Deserved Better. We All Did.”
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode, and the Book Review podcast in general. You can send them to books@nytimes.com.