In late October, the playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker gave a talk at the
university where I work on adaptation and translation.
It was a tour-de-force
of a talk, exploring what we mean by a “source” or “original” (connecting this
to the concept of the source of a body of water), and discussing some of her
own experiences translating/adapting. She questioned whether there is a true
source and if it should always be the authority. She felt that just like a
river, a source is always changing.
She also noted that a
good translation should reveal, and that people might need to read multiple
translations in order to get these revelations about a text (and its context).
Wertenbaker herself
has adapted many different texts and she said adaptation is essential because
it keeps stories alive. Today, media can play this role, perhaps more than
plays and novels. She said, “We need film and TV because they may be the only
way that stories survive.”
These were just a few
of the ideas she raised during her talk, which was generally quite
thought-provoking.
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