LIBRARY NOTES

Edith Grossman and George Guidall
Don Quixote: Found in Translation
Thursday, March 1, 2007 at 6:30 PM
Members' Room; $10 per person

Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote has been called the first modern novel and the greatest book of all time. Edith Grossman's 2003 translation won high praise from critics and led Harold Bloom to dub her "the Glenn Gould of translating, because she, too, articulates every note. Reading her amazing mode of finding equivalents in English for Cervantes's darkening vision is an entrance into a further understanding of why this great book contains within itself all the novels that have followed in its sublime wake."

In this event, Dr. Grossman talks about the joys and challenges of translating this immortal novel and discusses scenes demonstrating Cervantes' keen eye for human nature, his remarkably postmodern vision, and the archetypal nature of his creations Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. These scenes are then brought to life by award-winning audiobook narrator George Guidall. This one-time program was created especially for the Library.

Edith Grossman is today's foremost translator from Spanish. Since Love in the Time of Cholera she has translated all of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's books, as well as works by Mario Vargas Llosa, Mayra Montero, Alvaro Mutis, and Julian Rios.

George Guidall has narrated more than 850 audiobooks, including everything from Cheaper By the Dozen to Crime and Punishment, for four major audiobook publishers. He visits libraries all over the country with his program "The Art and Artifice of Audiobook Narration, An Evening With George Guidall."

2007 Notes > Library Notes > Main Page