– Virginia Woolf
I could not describe the aesthetics of my work any better than with the beautiful and wise words of Virginia Woolf that so often are a great inspiration to me. Everyone who, like me, considers language a sensual experience and a powerful tool, and would like to see their texts treated accordingly – well, great minds think alike.
Language, literature, art, and culture are my personal passions, which is why I have been interested in books, writing, theatre and paintings from early on. After school, I pursued my joy for learning languages and reading particularly by choosing English Studies and Literary Translation as my university subjects, which have led me to my actual profession today: literary translator.
from English and Italian
Creativity, intuition, and courage are the most crucial concepts one must consider to make a literary translation come alive. My personal goal in translating is to do justice to the original in the target language German, which means I aim at creating the equivalent effect that the source language produces. Sometimes, this requires research and exact transfer, sometimes imagination and a step back from the text.
English Modernism, which is my “academic expertise”, offered me a broad spectre of linguistic innovation such as unprecedented stylistics and uncommon genres throughout the years of my studies. Today, I can largely benefit from these when dealing with different types of texts, for example novels, crime novels and literary classics as well as essays, scientific articles and non-fictional texts.
Also other texts that are to do with cultural or historical work, as for example exhibition texts for museums, are very attractive to me and represent a special challenge in translating that I would take on eagerly.
Apart from my passion for language, literature and stories of all kinds, I am inspired by the continuous change, the richness of themes and the potential of further personal education this profession holds for me, which makes translating my absolute dream job.
of German and English texts
Besides translating, I am also happy to write reader’s reports (in German or English) – because what could be more beautiful than reading new books and give one’s humble opinion on them? I hav ebeen doing this regularly for more than three years now, during which I have written more than 100 professinal reader's reports hfor different literary scouts and publishers.
– Virginia Woolf