Collectivity and Multitudes

Every third Thursday of the month I have a lightning bolt of energy hit my brain. These monthly meetings are organized through the Center for Fiction and Çedilla and Co. for translators, authors, and the translation-curious. Tonight, the topic was translating as creative writing and the speakers were Jeremy Tiang and Madhu Kaza, who both shared their creativity and multiplicity with the dozens of curious attendees. I being one of them of course. Their brief mentions of ventures into the creative world in other disciplines outside of translation really struck me. Jeremy’s history with theatre made me think of translation as a form of method acting, while Madhu’s performance background made me see a pen and paper as pointe shoe and dance floor. These metaphors are quite simple, but the boundaries between selves are so thin when it comes to creativity. Creativity: a pure power that knows no boundaries, no language, no self. That creativity transcends these terrestrial, interior borders and even transcends self as one translates an author making the creativity a union of many. As I translate harnessing that creative force, I do so wanting to spread the power of one community—one author’s voice—to many through my creative flow. Whether it be ceramics, photography, tap dancing, gardening, poetry, creative writing, my creativity contains multitudes that can be channeled into translation, using what I learn in those disciplines to hone a better craft as I translate every novel, every line, every word.

xx

Ev