Gansel, Mirielle. Soul House. Trans. Joan Seliger Sidney. New York, NY: World Poetry Books, 2023.
TWM: What were the challenges and satisfactions?
JSS: In the four years I worked part-time on this project, I needed to be sure that my French translations were correct. Peter, Brian, and Pauline, a French doctoral student, helped me consider different possibilities for the poems. Afterwards, Michèle and I went over the entire manuscript together, discussing which word or phrase worked better. Translating poetry requires going far beyond a word-by-word rendition. Since Mireille is an extraordinary translator and translation theorist, besides a prize-winning poet, I wanted to do her justice. Also, I wanted to research the writers and political figures Mireille referenced. She is committed to writing about so many concerns in today’s world as well as the past, and is so absolutely brilliant, that I wanted to be true to her immense artistic and humanistic visions. As for satisfactions, it was a joy to be able to translate her poems. I bonded with them as if they were my own, and with Mireille as well. We finally met this past fall when World Poetry Books sent us on a road trip to Brown University, University of Connecticut, University of Pennsylvania, and to Albertine, the French Embassy Bookstore. In early February, they are flying us to the Bay Area to read at U-Cal Berkeley, and to read and discuss translation at the Center for the Art of Translation.
The Whole Megillah (TWM): How did you first find this poet’s work? How did the decision come about to translate the work?
Joan Seliger Sidney (JSS): As you may know, I taught at the Université de Grenoble several times. Michèle Ganem, my colleague and close friend, a Holocaust survivor, knowing I was looking for a poet to translate sent me a copy of her friend’s book. Mireille and I are both second-generation survivors. Immediately, I felt drawn to her poems and began translating them. At the same time, a University of Connecticut English Department colleague urged me to audit Peter Constantine’s translation course. Perfect timing! I wound up auditing the entire 4-course translation sequence, working with Peter, his assistant Brian, and their talented graduate students. In the process, I moved from translating random poems from Comme Une Lettre to all the poems in Maison d’Âme.
TWM: What’s your favorite poem in the collection?
JSS: I love many poems in this collection but “to inhabit beauty against all odds” is one of my favorites. I picture Yehudi Menuhin riding side-saddle like a gypsy. And the hug Pierre Trudeau gives Myfanwy’s disfigured daughter brings me to tears.
TWM: What does translating this work mean to you?
JSS: Translating this book is one of my major accomplishments. It’s been both privilege and honor.
TWM: How does your own poetry inform your translations and/or vice versa?
JSS: Translating this book has broadened my range of what poetry can do. I’m also interested in writing prose poems, not just verses.
For more about Joan and her work, please visit her website.
The Whole Megillah 
Thanks, Barb! Exciting!