Lost in Translation

Funny things happen as ZENOBIA, that crazy corporate fable, begins to make its way not just out onto U.S. bookshelves, but through publishing houses around the world. Questions float in from translators: What does it mean, they write, when you describe a person as "certifiable"? Or, could you better explain your character Wizzy, for we can't fnd a Brazilian Portuguese equivalent. And what do you mean when you call that man Snort? And what about this woman, Trenchy?

And might the Italians, Maria Jesus of Berrett-Koehler wants to know, change the title of the book to something that translates more along these lines: The Importance of Believing; The Will to Search.

I love these questions. They force me to stop drawing lazy conclusions about words, remind me of the power and push of other languages, foreign ways. I love the final products, too—love holding the foreign editions of these books in my hands. The Korean edition of GHOSTS IN THE GARDEN, for example, in which black and white photographs have been turned sepia-tinted pinks and greens. The Italian version of INTO THE TANGLE OF FRIENDSHIP, with its bright red cover. An early book rendered Japanese.

Thank goodness for a world that stretches beyond my own. Thanks to all those who do the stretching.