David Bellos
David Bellos (born 1945) is an English-born translator and biographer. Bellos currently teaches French and Comparative literature at Princeton University in the United States.[1] He is also director of Princeton's Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication.
Bellos' research topics have included Balzac and Georges Perec. Bellos published an award-winning translation of Perec's most famous novel, Life A User's Manual, in 1987. He won the first Man Booker International Prize for translation in 2005 for his translations of works by Albanian author Ismail Kadare, despite not speaking Albanian; the translations were done from previous French translations.[2]
Bellos has written a number of award-winning literary biographies and an introduction to translation studies, Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and The Meaning of Everything (2011).[3]
He appears in The Magnificent Tati, a documentary about the filmmaker Jacques Tati.[4]
He was awarded the rank of Officier in the Ordre national des Arts et des Lettres in 2015.
Bellos is an honorary member of IAPTI.
Publications
Translations
- Georges Perec: Life A User's Manual, 1987 (French-American Foundation's translation prize); new edition, 2008
- Georges Perec: W, or the Memory of Childhood, 1988
- Georges Perec: Things: A Story of the Sixties, 1990
- Georges Perec: 53 Days, 1992
- Ismail Kadare: The Pyramid, 1995
- Ismail Kadare:The File on H, 1996
- Georges Ifrah: A Universal History of Numbers, 2000
- Ismail Kadare: Spring Flowers, Spring Frost, 2001
- Fred Vargas: Have Mercy On Us All, 2003
- Fred Vargas: Seeking Whom He May Devour, 2004
- Ismail Kadare: The Successor, 2005
- Ismail Kadare: Agamemnon's Daughter, 2006
- Ismail Kadare: The Siege, 2008
- Hélène Berr: Journal, 2008
- Georges Perec: Thoughts of Sorts, 2009
- Romain Gary: Hocus Bogus, 2010
- Georges Perec: The Art and Craft of Approaching Your Head of Department to Submit a Request for a Raise, 2011
- Georges Simenon: Pietr the Latvian, 2013
- Daniel Anselme: On Leave, 2014
- Ismail Kadare: Twilight of the Eastern Gods, 2014
- Georges Perec: Portrait of a Man, 2014 (UK), 2015 (USA)
- Georges Perec: I Remember, 2014 (USA) (with Philip Terry)
- Paul Fournel, Dear Reader, 2014 (UK)
Biographies
- Georges Perec. A Life in Words, 1993. (Prix Goncourt de la biographie). French edition, 1994. Japanese edition, 2014. Hebrew edition, 2015.
- Jacques Tati. His Life and Art, 1999. French edition, 2002
- Romain Gary. A Tall Story, Harvill Secker, November 2010
Other books
- Balzac Criticism in France, 1850–1900. The Making of a Reputation. Oxford, 1976
- La Cousine Bette. A Critical Guide. London, 1981
- Old Goriot (Landmarks of World Literature). Cambridge, 1987.
- Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything. London and New York, 2011. Paperback edition, 2012.
French translation by Daniel Loayza as Le poisson & le bananier, Flammarion, 2012. Spanish translation by Vicente Campos, as Un Pez en la higuera. Ariel, 2012. German translation by Silvia Morawetz as Was macht der Fisch in meinem Ohr?, Eichborn, 2013
References
- ↑ David Bellos at Princeton University
- ↑ "The Englishing of Ismail Kadare" by David Bellos, complete review Quarterly, vol. VI, issue 2 – May 2005
- ↑ Is That A Fish In Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything at Janklow & Nesbit
- ↑ The Magnificent Tati at the Internet Movie Database
External links
- David Bellos: Linguistic Diversity is Language on YouTube
- "I, Translator" by David Bellos, The New York Times (20 March 2010)
- Review of Georges Perec: A Life in Words by Alice Kaplan
- David Bellos at the Internet Movie Database
- Review by Michael Hoffmann of Is That a Fish in Your Ear?, The Guardian (22 September 2011)
- "Babbling Barbarians: How Translators Keep Us Civilized: A conversation with David Bellos" Ideas Roadshow, 2013
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