Celia Dropkin's DESIRES: Why Translation Matters

The English translation of Celia Dropkin's novel, DESIRES, joins the increasing number of translations by women who wrote in Yiddish. What might account for this increase? How do translations of women's prose change our understanding of Yiddish literature? What should be translated? And how? What impact have developments in translation theory and practice made on contemporary Yiddish translations? This talk will consider such questions as it focuses on the newly-released translation of a novel—DESIRES—by one of the most controversial modern American Yiddish writers.