Translation, Now! A Conversation with Benjamin Paloff
November 14, 2019
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Benjamin Palofff will discuss his translation practice, with a focus on his newest translation, of Dorota Maslowska’s Honey, I Killed the Cats. Dorota Masłowska’s Honey, I Killed the Cats tells the story of two friends who gradually grow apart. Beneath this simple surface, however, and in the lyrically profane language that has secured the author’s reputation as one of the stylistic innovators of contemporary Polish letters, we find an extended portrait of how prefab dwellings, canned language, and one-size-fits-all consumer culture stifle our ability to form meaningful relationships with others, since they leave us with a stunted sense of ourselves. By turns hilarious and horrifying, Honey, I Killed the Cats is a comedy with the pathos of a cri de coeur.
Translation, Now! is a series devised and organized by Professor Michal Pawel Markowski, the Hejna Family Chair in Polish Language and Literature at the Department of Polish, Russian, and Lithuanian Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The series aims to introduce American academics, as well as the general public, to the work of the most accomplished translators of Polish literature into English, and to popularize their achievements among readers of different cultural backgrounds.
Date posted
Sep 17, 2019
Date updated
Sep 25, 2020