Q & A: Ilan Stavans

Ilan Stavans recently edited a collection of short stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Read this series of questions from Esther Lombardi, with Stavans' answers.

EL: What particular (or peculiar) challenges did you face in editing the Singer collection?

IS: Singer always wrote in Yiddish, but from the sixties onward he depended heavily on translators (some of whom, let it be known, didn’t speak a word of Yiddish). His English was far better than he would let it be known and he himself was directly involved in the process of translation. This process often results in thorough rewritings: the Yiddish and the English versions match, but only to a degree. The English versions ought to be described not as translations but as second originals. It is from them that, more often than not, translations into other languages (Spanish, German, French, even Polish) were done. In delving into Singer archives at the Ransom Center in Austin, Texas, I found various drafts of certain stories. It wasn't always easy to decide who had worked on them. Plus, I found that Singer could sometimes abuse translators, not giving them full credit for their work.

EL: Some of your works seem to involve the boundaries of language. After all, Spanglish is a hybrid language, and Yiddish is a "dead" language, though Singer said: "It was the tongue of martyrs and saints, of dreamers and Cabalists--rich in humor and in memories that mankind may never forget." My question(s) is/are: How has language transformed you? And, what are some of the rewards you find in exploring the boundaries of language, particularly through your four languages: Yiddish, Spanish, Hebrew, and English?

IS: I'm fascinated by language not only as a means of expression but also as a labyrinth of sorts. This summer I've been completing a book called "Dictionary Days" (Graywolf) about mistakes done by the people involved in making dictionaries, about plagiarism as a standard approach in lexicography, and about my own obsession with the Oxford English Dictionary. I'm especially interested in the way languages are born and die, and also in the American language as a living entity. What does English do to use and what do we do to English? How is American English renewed by immigrants and by its exposure to other cultures around the globe?

IS: Yiddish and Spanglish are siblings: the two are "bastard," hybrid tongues born in the fringes of society, which at some point in time become embraced by the status quo. Yiddish started sometime in the 11th century. It wasn't until the mid 19th century when literati such as Sh. Y. Abramovitch and Sholem Aleichem discovered it as a literary language. And in 1978 the language, personified by Isaac Bashevis Singer, was awarded a Nobel Prize. Might Spanglish follow a similar route? There is every indication that it is already becoming a literary language. Will masterpieces be written in it? If so, will those masterpieces need to be translated into either Spanish or English to be understood by non-Spanglish speakers?