Daisy Rockwell Explores the Art of Translation

Daisy Rockwell’s new book, Mixed Metaphors, examines literary translation through playful verse and personal anecdotes. The book begins by offering 22 metaphors to describe translation, ranging from building Lego castles to creating Frankenstein’s monster, to illustrate its complexities.

Rockwell also addresses the dominance of English as a global language, comparing its spread to a monoculture crop like potatoes and corn. The second half of Mixed Metaphors details five stories about copyright and translation, contrasting the informal practices of Hindi and Urdu writers with the stricter standards of English-language publishing.

Rockwell suggests the current emphasis on defining translation and seeking metaphors for it stems from a desire to make the traditionally solitary and painstaking process more performative. Ultimately, Rockwell argues that the human desire to understand and share across languages, to "carry across", is a fundamental and enduring curiosity.