Translating Myself and Others by Jhumpa Lahiri has been named a finalist for the 2023 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay.
In Translating Myself and Others Pulitzer Prize鈥搘inning author Jhumpa Lahiri reflects, in candid and disarmingly personal essays, on her emerging identity as a translator, as well as a writer in two languages. Drawing on Ovid鈥檚 myth of Echo and Narcissus to explore the distinction between writing and translating, and providing a close reading of passages from Aristotle鈥檚 Poetics, Lahiri explores topics of writing, desire, and freedom. The collection traces the theme of translation in Antonio Gramsci鈥檚 Prison Notebooks and takes up the question of Italo Calvino鈥檚 popularity as a translated author. Lahiri considers the unique challenge of translating her own work from Italian to English, the question 鈥淲hy Italian?,鈥� and the singular pleasures of translating contemporary and ancient writers.
Praised as 鈥渆xcellent鈥� (NPR), 鈥減assionate and thoughtful鈥� (The Spectator), 鈥渆nlightening鈥� (Elle), and 鈥渓ucid and provocative鈥� (Publishers Weekly), Translating Myself and Others features essays originally written in Italian and published in English for the first time, as well as essays written in English, and brings together Lahiri鈥檚 most lyrical and eloquently observed meditations on the translator鈥檚 art.
Administered annually, the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award honors 鈥渁 seasoned writer whose collection of essays is an expansion on their corpus of work.鈥� Lahiri鈥檚 collection is one of five finalists for the prize, which was judged by Jill Lepore, John McWhorter, and Simon Winchester. A winner will be announced March 2nd at the PEN Literary Awards Ceremony in New York City.