Kjell Espmark
Kjell Espmark is a writer, literary historian, member of the Swedish Academy and Professor of the History of Literature at Stockholm University.
Last Monday, Swiss writer and poet Kjell Espmark attended an academy seminar held in Shanghai International Studies University (SISU). He has been the Chair of the Committee of the Nobel Prize in Literature for 17 times. Espmark also met Doctor Jiang Feng, the SISU’s Chair of the University Council.
The seminar focused on the art of translation, in which Espmark stressed the translation, which helps to spread translated versions of literacy to different countries. He insisted that the translating is a constant dialogue between the interpreter and the author, during which there comes the best edition on the basis of a thorough understanding of original works.
Chen Maiping, a translator who received the Prize in Translation by the Swedish Academy in April, pointed out that a translator should not to be a slave to translation, neither rigid nor indiscreet.
In the appreciation of poetry translation, Chen took the Chinese version of Espmark’s poems as an example to elaborate the way of translation based on the fully comprehension of the output language and culture.
Jiang cited the Orchid Pavilion Preface of the Chinese ancient calligrapher Wang Xizhi to show the exquisiteness of translation.
Wang Ye, a female Chinese translator living in Sweden now, said a qualified translator has to master both in source language and target language.
