I was also wondering why "The Shadow of the Wind" (translated by Lucia Graves) wasn't on the list. Beautiful!


Nadine from Toronto asked:

"What about Carlos Ruiz Zafon: The Shadow Of The Wind?"

julia, Providence, USA

The outstanding translation of Isabel Allende's House of the Spirits was by Magda Bogin, not Bodin, as on your original list.

Esperanza Godot, Tepoztlán, Mexico

What about Natasha Wimmer's translation of Roberto Bolano's The Savage Detectives? Maybe the list needs to grow.

Robert, San Francisco, USA

What about Carlos Ruiz Zafon: The shadow Of The Wind?

Nadine, Toronto , Canada

What about David Ferry's translation of Virgil's Georgics?

Berel Dov Lerner, Kibbutz Sheluhot, Israel

Leila Vennewitz's translation of Boll's Billiards at Half-Past Nine is wonderful, too.

Matt, Lubbock, TX, USA

I agree with CW Howell's comment - at least some of Edith Grossman's work should have been included on this list. Her work is fantastic.

http//www.pandltranslations.com

Janine, Nashville, US

Sea of Fertility by Yukio Mishima. Masterpiece!

Bob, Manchester,

Some other contenders - Pevear and Volokhonsky's Crime and Punishment; Natasha Wimmer's translation of Bolaño's Savage Detectives; Gilbert Adair's translation of Perec's 'A Void'; Eliot Weinberger's translations of Borges. Good list though.

Nick, Melbourne, Australia

My vote: Eduardo Galeano's Memory of Fire trilogy (1985) translated by Cedric Belfrage.

Keith, Athens, Georgia, USA

It might be a bit too "modern" for some, but I quite enjoyed Robert Fagles' translation of the Iliad.

Michael, London,

G. Cabrera Infante's translations (with Suzanne Jill Levine) of his own Three Trapped Tigers (Tres Tristes Tigres) and Infante's Inferno (La Habana para un infante dinfunto)

Michael Robertson Moore, Venice, California, USA

Only one book is translated from the Arabic. More foreign language books are translated into Spanish each year, than have been translated into Arabic since the 9th century. If we were truely interested in fighting the war against terror, we would make the world's literature available to the Arabs.

lee, Alexandria, VA, US

I'm assuming that Steegmuller's "Madame Bovary" didn't make the list because it didn't make the cutoff date (it was published in 1957). The same thing would go for Richmond Lattimore's translation of "The Iliad" which was I believe published in the same year.

Tom Moran, New York, U.S.A.

Raph Mannheim's translation of The Tin Drum, and Francis Steegmuller's of Madame Bovary??? Where are they?

Frank Peterson, Tacoma Washington, USA

Agree completely with the comments about Edith Grossman. Her "Don Quixote" is magic expecially when read by George Guidall. What about Michael Hofmann's translations of Joseph Roth, and his father, Gert? And Patrick Creagh's translations of Tabucchi's "Pereira Declares" and Bufalino's "Night's Lie

Jane , Miami Beach, Florida

And what about Tove Jansson's The Summer Book, which is one of Europe's literary gems and an instant bestseller when it reappeared in English in 2003. Thomas Teal's translation has set the bar high for a lucid, intelligent rendering of Tove's remarkable prose.

natania jansz, London,

'Hard to believe you couldn't find one of Edith Grossman's translations for this list. Her "Adventures of Maqroll" by Mutis, "Don Quixote" or "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Garcia Marquez are wonderful. GGM would hardly continue to let her speak for him if she were not one of the best.

CW Howell, Dallas, TX, US

Hm. Seems like they haven't heard of Michael Meyer (Röda Orm) or Paul Britten Austin (Fredmans Epistlar, Fredmans Sånger).

Mike , Malaga, Spain