Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize
1 appearances
-
Edition 24 (2019) Winner
Damion Searls
ダミオン・サールズ
Damion Searls
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English, German (translated), Norwegian (translated), French (translated), Dutch (translated)
- Residence History
- Grew up in New York → Minneapolis, Minnesota
Career
- Occupations
- Writer, Translator
- Active Years
- 2003-
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvard University | — | — | — | — | United States |
| University of California, Berkeley | — | — | — | — | United States |
Harvard University
Country:
United States
University of California, Berkeley
Country:
United States
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize | Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl (translation of Uwe Johnson) | — | Goethe-Institut (New York) | 受賞 |
| 2022 | International Booker Prize (shortlist) | A New Name: Septology VI–VII (translation of Jon Fosse) | — | International Booker Prize | 最終候補 |
| 2011 | Schlegel-Tieck Translation Prize | Comedy in a Minor Key (translation of Hans Keilson) | — | Schlegel-Tieck Translation Prize | 受賞 |
| — | PEN Center USA Translation Award | Aliss at the Fire (translation of Jon Fosse) | — | PEN Center USA | 受賞 |
Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize
2019
Work:
Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl (translation of Uwe Johnson)
Organization:
Goethe-Institut (New York)
Result:
受賞
International Booker Prize (shortlist)
2022
Work:
A New Name: Septology VI–VII (translation of Jon Fosse)
Organization:
International Booker Prize
Result:
最終候補
Schlegel-Tieck Translation Prize
2011
Work:
Comedy in a Minor Key (translation of Hans Keilson)
Organization:
Schlegel-Tieck Translation Prize
Result:
受賞
PEN Center USA Translation Award
Work:
Aliss at the Fire (translation of Jon Fosse)
Organization:
PEN Center USA
Result:
受賞
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
Everything You Say Is True: A Travelogue
2003 Travelogue / EssayA collection of travel essays and observations exploring places and the self; an early book of essays.
travelmemoryobservation
what we were doing and where we were going
2009 Short storiesA collection of five short stories portraying fragments of everyday life and human relationships.
relationshipseveryday lifemovement
The Inkblots: Hermann Rorschach, His Iconic Test, and the Power of Seeing
2017 Biography / Non-fictionA biography of Hermann Rorschach that traces his life and the history of the Rorschach test, situating it within psychological and cultural history.
history of psychologydiagnosisvision and interpretation
The Philosophy of Translation
2024 Criticism / Translation theoryA collection of essays and theoretical reflections on translation, exploring the intersection of practice and theory.
translation theoryuses of languageinterpretation
Bibliography
- Everything You Say Is True: A Travelogue (author)
- what we were doing and where we were going (author)
- The Inkblots (author)
- Translation: Jon Fosse's Septology Vols. 1–7 (English translation)
- Translation: Nescio, Amsterdam Stories (English translation)
- Translation: Hans Keilson, Comedy in a Minor Key (English translation)
- On Reading (Marcel Proust & John Ruskin; translated/edited)
- Numerous other translations (Hermann Hesse, Rainer Maria Rilke, Robert Walser, etc.)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- Clear, critical proseTheoretical reflection grounded in translation practiceNonfiction voice that moves between fact and interpretation
- Recurring Motifs
- language and usesmemory and placevoice and representation in translation
Legacy
Damion Searls is a prominent translator into English and an author of interdisciplinary biography and criticism. He has translated major literary works into English and is noted for his writings on translation theory.
Quotes
-
“We don't translate words of a language, we translate uses of language.... In a translation, even what look like divergences or outright mistakes on the single-word level may well be part of what you need to do to re-create the same force in English.”
Source: Quoted in The New Yorker essay "What Does a Translator Do?" (2024)
Trivia
- Grew up in New York and is reported to have studied at Harvard and UC Berkeley.
- Translates from German, Norwegian, French, and Dutch into English.
- Won the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize in 2019.