The Voice of the Translator: An Interview with Breon Mitchell

Abstract

Breon Mitchell is one of the most important translators from German working in the United States today. His publications include translations of The Trial by Franz Kafka, The God of Impertinence by Sten Nadolny, Shadowlife by Martin Grzimek, The Silent Angel by Heinrich Böll, Laura’s Skin by J. F. Federspiel, and The Color of the Snow by Rüdiger Kremer. Mitchell’s translation of The Tin Drum by Günter Grass was published in 2009. For the past decade he has been the Director of the Lilly Library at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where he initiated the collection of translators’ archives. Selections from Mitchell’s “Afterword” from The Tin Drum are interspersed throughout the interview. Credit: Clifford Landers