Interview with Breon Mitchell, Lilly Library (Indiana University Bloomington, USA)

Cordingley, Anthony

doi:https://doi.org/10.7202/1079328ar

For this issue of Meta devoted to translation archives it seemed only fitting that we give voice to one of the pioneers of the field, a tenacious advocate for collecting and preserving translators’ papers. As Director of the Lilly Library at the Indiana University Bloomington, Professor Breon Mitchell built of one of the largest, if not the largest, archive of translators’ papers in the world. In February-March 2020 Professor Mitchell and I exchanged emails about the history, acquisition strategies and management of the Lilly Library collection, as well as the relationship between translators and their papers. Those questions and answers are reproduced below, unredacted. Although I retired as Director in 2012, the library has continued to build its holdings in this area, and currently includes the archives of over one hundred translators from around the world, both donated and acquired by purchase. It is among the largest collections of translators’ archives held at any institution. The second issue is whether to allow others to see the inevitable errors and misunderstandings that often litter early drafts of translations. A sense of professional pride seems to prevent some translators, and particularly those who are, by their very nature, extremely private in other respects, from opening themselves up about their work. They do not differ in this respect from famous authors who wish to be judged by their published works alone. My greatest disappointment in this regard was that we could not save the papers of Ralph Manheim, whose career as a literary translator was among the most important in the second half of the twentieth century. Ralph was a true friend, but he never gave in to efforts to save his papers. Whenever he finished a translation, he destroyed all the steps that led up to the finished work and placed the book on his shelf. I understood and respected his decision, but it was a true loss. Happily, however, all Ralph’s personal copies of his translations will be preserved and honored by the Lilly Library through the generosity of Julia Allen-Manheim. Fortunately the great majority of literary translators overcome their fears about privacy, and of exposing themselves to criticism of their work, and are pleased that their manuscripts will remain available to students and scholars for years to come. Archives are a cultural form of ongoing existence. Translators have earned a place in literary history, and they deserve to share in that afterlife. Authors too seem pleased to see their translators recognized. During his lifetime, Kurt Vonnegut sent translations of his works directly to the Lilly as they appeared, and J. M. Coetzee has kindly done the same. Many of our author archives include substantial collections of their works into the various languages of the world. Authors also know that a true picture of their creative life is illuminated in a special way by their correspondence with translators. Sten Nadolny, a noted German novelist, sent this note to Lynda and me while we were translating his latest novel, Das Glück des Zauberers (The Joy of Sorcery):

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