Poetry Translating as Expert Action Processes, priorities and networks

 Poetry Translating as Expert Action

Ireland Scotland/England USA

poem reviewers

b. England, Bosnia, USA

published anthology

publisher

b. England

reports

source collections, manuscripts

poem nders/source poets

b. England, Bosnia, USA

selected

source

poems

nal English versions of poems

1st co-translator

b. Bosnia

literal English

versions of poems

2nd co-translators

b. England, Scotland, Ireland

2

4

1

5

3

6

7

9

6a

6b

Bosnia

manuscript^8

editor

b. USA

direct translators

b. England, USA, Serbia

Figure 6. Scar on the Stone (Agee 1998b): Actor network

Tracking this project through time shows what translators do, and how they inter-

act with other players. First, the editor Agee agreed the project with the publisher

(Arrow 1). The editor then asked ‘poem finders’ – mainly Bosnia-based poets – to

suggest poems (2). As he did not read BCS, he had these poems sent to poem re-

viewers (3) – translators, critics, academics and some poets – who recommended

shortlists of source poets (4). After assessing these shortlists, the editor sent some

source poems (5) to ‘direct translators’, who made English poetic versions or sup-

plied ready-translated versions (6). He sent other source poems (5) to a