the world of writing

it's not every day that one reads a good, in-depth interview. so when i read kimberly nagy's interview of pakistani poet waqas khwaja, who worked as translation editor as well as contributing translator of a ground breaking anthology of modern pakistani poetry (modern poetry of pakistan), published last year by dalkey press, i was completely absorbed.

khwaja describes the niceties of translation and the raison d'etre to which he subscribed when translating himself as well as working with his group of translators. the published anthology is a collection of poems in several languages, all spoken in pakistan. the translation project itself was a major undertaking, the editor taking every possible step to remain faithful to certain basic precepts such as syntax, even if grammatical rules could not be maintained. beyond this he realised that translation is a delicate art, in which it's necessary to preserve the music and the meaning of the poem.

in accordance with the modern approach to translation (see http://www.poetrytranslation.org/, he often used several translators, after which he would edit based on his own and other experienced readers' views.

so far i've made it appear that the interview is about translation. but it isn't confined to that, it spans khwaja's career, as well as his work as a poet. 

click here to read the interview: interview of waqas khwaja