Essays Two

This was a wonderful follow-up to 2019's Essays One. I knew that Davis was translator — it was her beautiful story “The Walk” that inspired me to read Proust — but I didn't grasp just how much of her life she has dedicated to translation. While Essays One had some pieces sharing her process in writing fiction, it was also very outward-focused, with much of the content being critical essays about visual artists and writers. Essays Two, in contrast, is extremely process-focused and highly technical; if Stephen King's On Writing is a “memoir of the craft,” then Essays Two is a memoir of the science of the written word. Davis emphasizes repeatedly that translation isn't exact, that there is no such thing as a perfect translation, but she also demonstrates that arriving at a satisfactory solution, of which there may be several, is extremely difficult.

In some cases, translating just a single word requires knowledge of the word's plain meaning and potential synonyms, of its etymology, and of life in 19th century France. The most striking case of this is the translation of the word boule, the title problem from the essay “Loaf or Hot-Water Bottle.” One would imagine that from context it would be simple to tell which meaning the author intended, but Davis outlines in great detail just how tricky a problem this is, before revealing and justifying her choice of hot-water bottle.

There are glimpses of Davis's gentle humor throughout. In one instance, after considering that an alternative translation may be better than the on she settled on, she remarks:

“Then again, maybe not. (If I were to write a memoir about being a translator, I might title it: Then Again, Maybe Not. Or, then again, maybe not...)”

However, given the subject matter, Essays Two is bit dry, although this is certainly deliberate and I don't think the collection suffers from it. If one were looking to read for entertainment, I'd steer them towards The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, as Essays Two is indisputably on the informative end of the spectrum.

On the whole, I really loved this book. Davis is perhaps my favorite author, and I'm very grateful that she has shared so much about her methods for translation and language acquisition.


Thank you to FSG and NetGalley for the advanced copy!