Abstract
Mary Phil Koesak’s aim is ‘to create a new, dynamic, contemporary space’. Does she succeed? Her translation is certainly new – but is it dynamic or contemporary?
There are two main approaches to translation: one is to adopt a literal approach, following the order of words of the original and using the same translation for every use of a word or phrase. The other is to seek a more paraphrastic modern idiom. Strangely, Korsak adopts the former approach, with the result that though much of the language is striking, the format is too stilted to be either dynamic or contemporary. Yet she is inconsistent in her approach; for example, though she omits personal pronouns (which are not needed in the Greek, but are in English), and often keeps the order of the Greek words, she omits many of Mark’s numerous ‘and’s, which help to give movement and pace to the original, and translates many participles as finite verbs. The result – for example, ‘Come to him Sadducees … They question him, say’ and ‘do not worry beforehand What speak?’ – is hardly contemporary English. Expressions such as ‘those who have in their womb’ which are natural in one language can jar when translated literally.
The decision always to translate a word in the same way whenever it appears is not always helpful. We can applaud Korsak’s attempt to underline Mark’s parallel between the deaths of John the Baptist and Jesus by doing so, but elsewhere it seems inappropriate to find the man with the withered hand commanded to ‘Awake!’ (3.3), while the fertile soil which produces a good crop is more naturally described as ‘good’ rather than ‘beautiful’ (4.8). Sometimes she abandons this principle. In the explanation of that same parable, for example, an identical phrase is translated ‘these are the ones’, ‘the same with these’ and ‘they are these’. In the Appendix to Mark (16.9–20), she deliberately abandons it, in an attempt to convey the different style and vocabulary of this addition to the Gospel.
Korsak certainly succeeds in surprising us – as with her decision to translate the verb normally rendered ‘baptize’ by ‘dip’. Mark, however, was clearly referring to total immersion, not to ‘dipping’. The ludicrous description of John as ‘John the Dipper’ is more appropriate to a bird, especially when Jesus asks, ‘Was John’s dipping from the sky?’ (11.30), while his question to his disciples – ‘Can you … be dipped in the dip I am dipped in?’ — is banal, suggestive of sharing a dip at a cocktail party rather than crucifixion. And why does she consistently avoid the horror of crucifixion by translating the verb ‘to crucify’ as ‘to put on the cross’?
Korsak sets out her translation as verse, with very short lines and little punctuation, deliberately following the practice of some contemporary poets. She refers to ‘god’, rather than ‘God’, justifying this on the basis that she is following her source text. It is true that the critical edition of the Greek New Testament uses the lower case – but the earliest manuscripts were written entirely in upper case. Mark was undoubtedly referring to the God of the Old Testament. Her decision to translate the word normally rendered ‘heavens’ as ‘sky’ is also misleading; ‘heavens’ is a much richer term than ‘sky’.
In her postscript, explaining her method, the author says that she has deliberately maintained certain peculiarities of her source text, in order to ‘convey a sense of authenticity’ (p. 129). Yet there is a narrow line between authenticity and artificiality. The Italian proverb, traduttore traditore, ‘the translator is a traitor’, sums up well the problems facing the translator, who, however skilful, inevitably imposes his or her own interpretation on the text. The reader, also, brings preconceptions to the translation. To me, this translation is too quirky to be contemporary and too abrupt to be dynamic, and may well lead readers to conclude that Mark belongs to a bygone age, but Rowan Williams, in a Foreword, commends this as ‘an unforgettably vivid translation’. If it leads readers to find new meaning in Mark’s Gospel, and to ask questions about his story, the book will have proved its value.