In 'The Extinction of Irena Rey,' translators search for a missing author

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 26 June 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

Eight translators from eight countries travel to a Polish forest to begin adapting famed author Irena Rey's newest book into their respective languages. But when Irena Rey disappears, a competitive, ego-fueled search unravels in the surrounding woods and within each person. In today's episode, author Jennifer Croft speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about her new novel, The Extinction of Irena Rey, and how her own experience as an International Booker Prize-winning translator sparked an interest in the drive and desires of the people tasked with "shapeshifting" a text into their own tongue.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. Translators don't get enough props.
0:07.8	You know, they are the conduit through which us readers can read a work that we otherwise would never be able to,
0:14.5	you know, without putting in real hours into duolingo. And they've got to do right both by us,
0:19.7	as well as the native language of the source
0:21.9	text. The translator and writer Jennifer Croft gets into that responsibility in today's interview.
0:28.0	She's written a fiction book titled The Extinction of Irina Ray, which is about a crew of
0:32.9	translators who get into trouble and have their own squabbles and ego battles with each other.
0:38.3	In this conversation with NPR Scott Simon, Kroft makes a point that translation is
0:43.2	shape-shifting. And after the break, listen to Kroft use fungi as a metaphor to illustrate that.
0:51.1	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:56.0	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.
1:00.5	On our new show, Sources and Methods.
1:02.6	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people
1:05.9	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:09.9	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:15.6	Eight translators walk into a house.
1:18.4	Now, this isn't the beginning of a joke.
1:20.3	It's a novel by the famed translator Jennifer Croft.
1:24.4	It's 2017 and eight translators of the works of Arena Ray, a celebrated Polish novelist,
1:30.7	arrived at her home to translate her unfolding work.
1:34.2	The author leads them on hikes into the ancient Pialovisa forest, but doesn't show them
1:39.7	her pages.
	...

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