Daisy Rockwell’s ‘Mixed Metaphors’ playfully explores translation

Daisy Rockwell's new book, 'Mixed Metaphors: The Art of Translation', offers a whimsical yet thoughtful look at the craft of literary translation. The 184-page volume, published by Bloomsbury India at Rs 499, combines light verse, personal vignettes, and spoofs on period thrillers to reflect on what Rockwell calls 'this little art.'

The American translator of Hindi and Urdu literature uses a series of playful metaphors to demystify translation: building a Lego castle with wrong blocks, a tornado moving a farmhouse from Kansas to Oz, or a mother soothing a crying baby. The book is peppered with whimsical illustrations of mystical cats, calligraphic pigs, and dancing trees, and includes perceptive observations on the politics of translation, including concerns about English as a 'monocrop' that crowds out other languages.

Rockwell challenges conventions around footnotes in translation, offering cheeky and original content. The book also addresses the translator's worry about being seen as an Orientalist or 'colonial extractionist' when bringing texts from foreign languages into English.