Jessica Cohen

“To the End of the Land” is on President Obama’s reading list

Jessica Cohen — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 20:41:08 +0000

The presidential reading list is in the news again, and this time I’m taking an interest because Obama is apparently planning to read David Grossman’s To the End of the Land (in my translation, although you wouldn’t know that from the press coverage) while on vacation. Let’s hope it inspires him to start putting some real pressure on Israel to negotiate with the Palestinians. And — this is also in the realm of fantasy — perhaps it might also provoke some presidential thoughts about literary translation?

David Grossman’s novel is out in paperback

Jessica Cohen — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 02:04:56 +0000

The paperback edition of David Grossman’s To the End of the Land, in my translation, has just been released in the US (the UK release will be in the fall). Get your copy here!

Why not much is translated between Hebrew and Arabic

Jessica Cohen — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 23:03:11 +0000

An interesting piece in Publishing Perspectives on “Arabic and Hebrew: The Politics of Literary Translation.” Andalus is/was a wonderful Israeli publisher of Arabic literature in translation, and I’m sorry to hear about their demise (although their website doesn’t say anything about shutting down operations, so perhaps they’re still around after all?)

Erica Jong comments on “To the End of the Land”

Jessica Cohen — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 02:45:53 +0000

Daphne Merkin published a somewhat dissenting opinion of David Grossman’s To the End of the Land in Tablet, back in October. Her review includes some unfortunate factual errors about the book, and her tone at times is dismissive, but I found some of her points valid, and I certainly agree that it’s important (albeit difficult) to try and evaluate the book on its own merits and not be too swayed by the well-known circumstances of its author’s life. The article generated a string of comments — some germane to the discussion, others of the usual “if you don’t agree with me you’re an anti-Semite” variety, which have nothing to do with the book. But the latest comment, published just today, is by none other than Erica Jong (yes, the Erica Jong!) and she loves the book!

“To the End of the Land” wins the Jewish Book Award!

Jessica Cohen — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 21:35:17 +0000

The winners of the Jewish Book Awards have just been announced, and my translation of David Grossman’s “To the End of the Land” has won in the fiction category — the JJ Greenberg Memorial Award. Finalists in the category are … Continue reading →

Colm Toibin on “To the End of the Land” (again)

Jessica Cohen — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 17:48:21 +0000

After his glowing review of David Grossman’s “To the End of the Land” in the NY Times, Colm Toibin tells the Wall Street Journal that he “was really shocked by it and moved by it.” Too bad he (or the paper’s editors) still do not bother to credit the translator of the novel—yours truly.

WordPress is not as easy as I was led to believe…

Jessica Cohen — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 03:59:02 +0000

Still working out some WordPress issues here on my new site, so some of the pages may misbehave for a while. Hope to be up and running soon.

Meanwhile, you might be interested in checking out the program for the upcoming Israel Translators Association’s annual conference, which looks like it will have some very interesting sessions. I would have liked to attend, but a trip to Israel in February won’t be feasible for me. Particularly sorry to miss the talk by my childhood friend and fellow translator, Gili Bar-Hillel.

Welcome to my new non-blog

Jessica Cohen — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 03:49:23 +0000

This is not a blog! To write a good blog, one must have both the time and the inclination to post frequent updates. I have neither. What you will find here is news about my publications and other aspects of my translation work, as well as the occasional item of interest from the worlds of translation and Hebrew literature. Comments and discussion are welcome.