Poetry Translating as Expert Action
A second potential factor shaping poetry translation as communication is the
choice of poems to be translated. With single-poet projects, this may be the trans-
lator’s decision; with anthologies, it is more often an editor’s decision.
A third but crucial set of factors is where and how the project is published,
distributed, promoted and reviewed (cf. Venuti 1995: 19). Paratextual devices like
overall title, cover or home-page design help define target readers. Situational fac-
tors such as the publisher’s marketing policy, market position and distribution
range, however, actually bring the text complex to those readers; in particular, the
effect of distribution range is potentially enormous. Moreover, most of these fac-
tors are controlled not by translators, but by publishers and website editors – who,
because most publishing happens in receptor-language countries, are typically
motivated by allegiance to poetry in general, rather than to the project’s specific
source culture.
All this means that how the translator translates the poems is just one of sev-
eral factors influencing the communication event. Obviously, translators need ad-
equate poetry-translating expertise to persuade publishers and editors to accept
their work; and, crucially, if the target poems they produce are unconvincing to
readers, the project fails. Stylistic quality and texture, however, only affect com-
munication with the reader after the factors mentioned earlier have enabled the
communication to take place. Moreover, the effect of the poems is often supported
or mediated by other texts within the complex, such as an Introduction which
situates the source poet in his or her cultural and text world context, or which
justifies the translator’s decisions and analogies – though, as mentioned earlier,
writing this may be one of the translator’s tasks.7.5.1.2 Webocracy and the rule of paper
Turning to transmission means, paper publications still have high status, particu-
larly for longer texts; these are largely produced in receptor-language-majority
countries. The publication of translated poetry, however, has been revolutionized
by the rapid growth of web publishing, the size and shape of which is changing
year by year (see also Jones 2010). Web publishing has highlighted the networked,
distributed nature of poetry translation and, to a great extent, democratized its
publishing and reading: anyone can post a poem on the web, its audiences are
potentially global, and a few mouse-clicks can give readers a rich range of trans-
lated poetry.
Web publishing, however, brings its own inequalities. Web-wise translators
and poets can promote themselves via translation at the expense of others whose
poetry may be equally worth reading, or more so. At least in the case of English,
web publishing and reviewing of translations still appears dominated by receptor-
language natives and by diaspora players in receptor-language countries – thus