The Magic Mirror of Literary Translation: Reflections on the Art of Translating Verse

Eric Sellin’s The Magic Mirror of Literary Translation: Reflections on the Art of Translating Verse, an entertaining, highly personal account of his decades-long engagement with the craft of poetic translation, will not be mistaken for an academic tome on this subject— nor does it aspire to be one, as the author makes clear in his “Introduction,” where he affirms having “opted instead for a style more commonly associated with the familiar essay” (xi). With occasional humor Sellin invokes the (neo-)classical ideal that one should “inform and delight” when he adds that the essays in this slim volume, some previously published in literary journals, “are meant to be entertaining as well as instructive” (xii). Discussing the process he undertakes in rendering formal French-language verse and frequently providing multiple drafts of his efforts (without a doubt the most interesting, even engrossing sections of this book), Sellin offers wry critiques of his lexical decisions in highly phenomenological language. Thus, at one point, he refers to his decision to undertake a retranslation as “a personal quest for a deeper and more acute appreciation” of the source-text poem (8). Looking back at another series of preliminary versions, he comments: “I find it interesting to actually relive the critical moments of excitement, hard work, and self-doubt that left their own heart line, so to speak” (65). This highly experiential approach