For works translated by the original author, how common is it for additional translations to exist? What might these translation add?

Question

Sorley MacLean was a Scottish poet who worked in Gaelic. This was the language of his poem, Hallaig, about the Highland clearances and how time changes our perception of history. However, he also provided an English translation. Here are the opening stanzas.> Time, the deer, is in the wood of Hallaig > > The window is nailed and boarded > through which I saw the West > and my love is at the Burn of Hallaig, > a birch tree, and she has always been > between Inver and Milk Hollow, > here and there about Baile-chuirn: > she is a birch, a hazel, > a straight, slender young rowan. > > In Screapadal of my people > where Norman and Big Hector were, > their daughters and their sons are a wood > going up beside the stream. In 2002 famed poet Seamus Heaney offered a new translation. In parts, it is markedly different from the original although the broad meaning is preserved. Here is his version of the above text.> Time, the deer, is in Hallaig Wood > > There's a board nailed across the window > I looked through to see the west > And my love is a birch forever > By Hallaig Stream, at her tryst > > Between Inver and Milk Hollow, > somewhere around Baile-chuirn, > A flickering birch, a hazel, > A trim, straight sapling rowan. > > In Screapadal, where my people > Hail from, the seed and breed > Of Hector Mor and Norman > By the banks of the stream are a wood When I first read the translation, it struck me as almost rude: why would someone, even of Heaney's stature, feel they could do a better job of translating something than the original author? On reflection, I am not aware of any other instances of a work translated by its original author being re-translated by other writers. Are there any? What additional insight might such re-translations offer?

Answer 1

https://www.reddit.com/r/sciencefiction/comments/bomyvn/yevgeny_zamyatins_%D0%BC%D1%8B_we/

"Yevgeny Zamyatin’s “мы” (We)

Highly recommend Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin’s 1921 novel “We”. The novel greatly inspired Huxley and Orwell and sheds light on the totalitarian politics of Russia following the October Revolution. Zamyatin was a proud Bolshevik put upon returning to Russia after the revolution he became disillusioned by what he saw as burgeoning authoritarianism. The novel describes a future civilization where everything is made of glass. The people are completely without free will but many consider it utopia because there is no crime and everything is provided to them. Everything is based on math that is wrong and everything is controlled by the one state. Everyone does everything in unison and instead of names are assigned a number. It is one of the earliest dystopian novels and though it is a little dated it is still a great read. It was completely censored by the government but spread through an underground system of hand copying known as the samizdat. I read the Natasha Randall translation but I’ve heard that Mirra Ginsburg has the best translation. Check it out if you like early Sci-fi or want to learn more about the politics of the early Soviet Union."

FYI, There are other translations of the book. Some of the translators were said to interpret the words in different ways, changing the gist of the story.

I read it at a university when I was a worker in the library...I checked a particular translation out and read it in the dorm. I don't recall the translator's name, unfortunately, reading the book solely for pleasure since I had not read any Russian literature at the time. I was fascinated when reading about Zamyatin's illustrious career and camaraderie within the hierarchy while at the same time ridiculing the society mores using math theory as chapter headings...a very dystopian world was presented. I recall that he lost his status as a writer, spent time in prison, and he might have died while in prison. Maybe someone knows more information about his fate. He had been the top officer on a major ship, etc. He was very cultured, evidently possessing a wicked sense of humor.

There are many works that have been re-translated by multiple researchers, possibly because of dissertations being required (Dissertation Abstracts includes lots of them) in research centers and universities/colleges. When other linguists translate material, they can interpret the same information in a different manner, depending upon cultural knowledge of the original language and its appeal to their style of academic learning. Mary