We caught up with Tiffany Tsao, a writer and literary translator. Tiffany is the author of novels such as The Majesties and translates the work of Norman Erikson Pasaribu, which we are so fortunate to publish. Most recently, we published her translation of Happy Stories, Mostly by Norman – twelve short stories that queer folk tales and myths normally reserved for hetero characters. Here’s our conversation below.
How would you describe Happy Stories, Mostly in a single sentence?
Happy Stories, Mostly is a collection of twelve tender gems.
Can you talk about the process of translating Happy Stories, Mostly – the good days and the bad days?
Every day translating Happy Stories, Mostly was a good day. The bigger issue was the pandemic and the lockdowns and having small kids. A lot of things went online, so I ended up doing a lot of zoom events – at night because I live in Australia many hours ahead of everyone else and because it would be after the kids went to sleep. And online school made everything harder as well – our five, then six year old had a pretty difficult time. Every moment I could steal away to work on Happy Stories, Mostly was very precious to me.
How did the task of translating stories differ from translating poems?
To be honest, translating prose comes more intuitively to me than translating poetry. This probably has something to do with me being a prose writer when it comes to my own written work. With the poems, I relied much more on close correspondence and co-working sessions with Norman. With the stories, I felt much more confident working independently on the drafts.
What's your favourite short story in the collection – and why?
My favourite story is 'The True Story of the Story of the Giant'. But I also feel it is the saddest story. There is so much in it about how imperialism (its eradication of alternative cultures and their histories; its consequent narrow reframings of religion) and how oblivious heteronormative thinking (even at its most 'accepting' and 'enlightened') can corrode and destroy.
What was the hardest word / phrase / feeling / theme to translate – and why?
I felt 'lelaki' was a difficult word to translate, depending on the context. For example, the original title of 'The True Story of the Story of the Giant' is 'Kisah Sesungguhnya tentang Lelaki Raksasa', which can be translated more literally as 'The Real Story of the Giant Man'. But I felt 'man' in English has a more of an inherently macho connotation (probably because of words and phrases like 'manly' and 'Man up!') compared to 'lelaki' in Indonesian, which has more of the neutrality of 'male'. But 'male' is so clinical in English. So I ended up replacing 'Giant Man' in the English title with just 'the Giant'. What does that say about English, really – that I felt a 'giant' was less threatening than a 'man'?
You've spoken and written at length about your author-translator relationship with Norman. What's something our readers don't yet know about this special working relationship?
That Norman is translating my novel, The Majesties, into Indonesian :-)
Previously you've spoken about translating tone – and how it is easy for translators to reflect their own moods into their translations. Do you have any advice on how to best approach that?
I don't know if I do!
How do you approach self care as a translator?
Lately, I've been trying to keep space for my own written work as well. I can easily get overly consumed by or too emotionally attached to my translations. And I think this isn't healthy for my translating, ultimately.
Which 2022 books in translation are you most looking forward to reading this year?
I don't know if it is coming out in 2022, but I'm very excited about reading Mui Poopoksakul's translation of Saneh Sangsuk's novel The Understory whenever it comes out.
What are you working on now / next?
I'm concentrating on my own written work currently, which I haven't done for a very long time. I'm currently revising the manuscript for the final novel of my Oddfits trilogy and badly want to write my next standalone novel, the main idea for which I've had percolating in my mind for the past three years. Now seems like a good time because I don't have any translation work immediately on the horizon...not yet.