Up in Ontario

Gregory Rabassa's Memoir

Gregory Rabassa, the incredible translator of Garcia Marquez and 100 Years of Solitude, among other titles, has written a memoir entitled, If This Be Treason: Translation and its Dyscontents: A Memoir.

An excerpt is available on Words Without Borders: Me and My Circumstances. Go, read. Is very good.

Thanks to the delightful Gail of Open Brackets for the pointer.

Incidentally, Gail and I had an email exchange that I just came across. We were going on about life in Canada, how it can be a wonderful, dull, stupifying farce, and she cracked this one:

On a "serious" talk show here one night, all of the French guests started making fun of the Québécois guest's accent, aping him each time he spoke. He finally got up, saying "screw you, I don't have to take this" and walked off the set, leaving the others sitting there, speechless.

Then two more got up, saying, "neither do I" and walked off too, leaving the host and one last guest blushing and examining their knees. And there's no cutting to commercials here. It was most enjoyable.