HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Anthea Bell
OR:
Anthea Bell on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Anthea Bell (10 May 1936 – 18 October 2018) was an English translator of literary works, including children's literature, from French, German and
Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
. These include '' The Castle'' by
Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...
, ''
Austerlitz Austerlitz may refer to: History * Battle of Austerlitz, an 1805 victory by the French Grand Army of Napoleon Bonaparte Places * Austerlitz, German name for Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic, which gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz a ...
'' by W. G. Sebald, the '' Inkworld'' trilogy by
Cornelia Funke Cornelia Maria Funke () (born 10 December 1958) is a German author of children's fiction. Born in Dorsten, North Rhine-Westphalia, she began her career as a social worker before becoming a book illustrator. She began writing novels in the late 19 ...
and the French ''
Asterix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a ''bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Republic, wi ...
'' comics with co-translator
Derek Hockridge Derek Hockridge (1934 – 8 August 2013) was a British translator, teacher, lecturer, and occasional actor, who was perhaps best known for his translations of the ''Asterix'' comic book series. Born in Wales and brought up in Birmingham, he comp ...
.


Biography

Bell was born in
Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
on 10 May 1936. According to her own accounts, she picked up
lateral thinking Lateral thinking is a manner of solving problems using an indirect and creative approach via reasoning that is not immediately obvious. It involves ideas that may not be obtainable using only traditional step-by-step logic. The term was first ...
abilities essential in a translator from her father
Adrian Bell Adrian Hanbury Bell (4 October 1901 – 5 September 1980) was an English ruralist journalist and farmer, and the first compiler of ''The Times'' crossword. Early life Bell was born at Stretford, Lancashire, son of Robert Bell (1865-1949), e ...
, Suffolk author and the first ''
Times Time is the continued sequence of existence and events, and a fundamental quantity of measuring systems. Time or times may also refer to: Temporal measurement * Time in physics, defined by its measurement * Time standard, civil time specific ...
''
cryptic crossword A cryptic crossword is a crossword puzzle in which each clue is a word puzzle. Cryptic crosswords are particularly popular in the United Kingdom, where they originated, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, and in several Commonwealth nations, includi ...
setter. Her mother, Marjorie Bell (née Gibson), was a home maker. The couple's son, Bell's brother,
Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austr ...
, is a former
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
correspondent who was an independent Member of Parliament for one parliamentary term. After attending a boarding school in Bournemouth, she read English at
Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...
. She was married to the publisher and writer
Antony Kamm Antony Kamm (2 March 1931–11 February 2011) was an English publisher, author, historian and cricketer. Biography Antony Kamm was born in Hampstead, London, the son of George Kamm, a founder director of Pan Books and his wife Josephine, a ...
from 1957 to 1973; the couple had two sons, Richard and Oliver.
Oliver Kamm Oliver Kamm (born 1963) is a British journalist and writer who is a leader writer and columnist for ''The Times''. Early life and career Kamm is the son of translator Anthea Bell and publisher Antony Kamm. Kamm is the grandson of Adrian Bell ...
is a
leader writer A leader writer is a senior journalist in a British newspaper who is charged with writing the paper's editorial either in the absence of the editor or in cases where the editor chooses not to write editorials because their editorial skills may res ...
for ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
''. After her sons left home, she lived and worked in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
. She died on 18 October 2018, aged 82.


Works

Anthea Bell's career as a translator began at the end of the 1950s when the German publisher Klaus Flugge asked Antony Kamm if he knew anyone able to translate ''Der kleine Wassermann'', a book for children by Otfried Preussler. Kamm recommended his wife; Bell's English version entitled ''The Little Water Sprite'' was published in 1960. Eventually, she translated Preussler's entire works. Over the decades, Bell translated numerous Franco-Belgian comics of the ''
bande dessinée (singular ; literally 'drawn strips'), abbreviated BDs and also referred to as Franco-Belgian comics (), are comics that are usually originally in French and created for readership in France and Belgium. These countries have a long tradition ...
'' genre into English, including ''
Asterix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a ''bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Republic, wi ...
'' – for which her new puns were praised for keeping the original French spirit intact. Peter Hunt, now Professor Emeritus in Children's Literature at
Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...
, has written of her "ingenious translations" of the French originals which "in a way display the art of the translator at its best". Other comic books she has translated include ''
Le Petit Nicolas ''Le Petit Nicolas'' (Little Nicholas) is a series of French children's books created by René Goscinny and illustrated by Jean-Jacques Sempé and it was first published on 30 March 1959. The books depict an idealized version of childhood in 19 ...
'', '' Lieutenant Blueberry'', and ''
Iznogoud ''Iznogoud'' (pronounced "he's/is no good" with a French accent) is a French comics series featuring an eponymous character, created by the comics writer René Goscinny and comics artist Jean Tabary. The comic series chronicles the life and tim ...
''. She specialised in translating children's literature, and re-translated
Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...
's fairytales from Danish for the publishing house of G.P. Putnam's Sons. She also translated the Inkworld trilogy by
Cornelia Funke Cornelia Maria Funke () (born 10 December 1958) is a German author of children's fiction. Born in Dorsten, North Rhine-Westphalia, she began her career as a social worker before becoming a book illustrator. She began writing novels in the late 19 ...
and the
Ruby Red Trilogy ''The Ruby Red Trilogy '' is a series of three young adult fantasy novels by German writer Kerstin Gier. The three books are: ''Ruby Red'', ''Sapphire Blue'' and ''Emerald Green''. The books have been translated into over twenty-seven languag ...
by
Kerstin Gier Kerstin Gier (born 8 October 1966) is a German author of novels for adults and young adults. Her popular young adult novel ''Rubinrot'' (''Ruby Red'') and its two sequels - a series about time travel - as well as her ''Silber'' trilogy were transl ...
. Other work includes ''The Princess and the Captain'' (2006), translated from ''La Princetta et le Capitaine'' by Anne-Laure Bondoux. Bell also translated into English many adult novels, as well as some books on
art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...
, and
musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...
. She has translated
W.G. Sebald Winfried Georg Sebald (18 May 1944 – 14 December 2001), known as W. G. Sebald or (as he preferred) Max Sebald, was a German writer and academic. At the time of his death at the age of 57, he was being cited by literary critics as one of the g ...
's ''
Austerlitz Austerlitz may refer to: History * Battle of Austerlitz, an 1805 victory by the French Grand Army of Napoleon Bonaparte Places * Austerlitz, German name for Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic, which gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz a ...
'' (plus other works by Sebald), and
Władysław Szpilman Władysław Szpilman (; 5 December 1911 – 6 July 2000) was a Polish pianist and classical composer of Jewish descent. Szpilman is widely known as the central figure in the 2002 Roman Polanski film '' The Pianist'', which was based on Szpilman ...
's memoir '' The Pianist'' (translated, at the author's request, from the German version). Her translations of works by Stefan Zweig have been said to have helped restore his reputation among anglophone readers, and that of E.T.A. Hoffmann's ''
The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr ''The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr together with a fragmentary Biography of Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler on Random Sheets of Waste Paper'' is a complex satirical novel by Prussian Romantic-era author E. T. A. Hoffmann. It was first ...
'' (originally ''Lebensansichten des Katers Murr'') has had a positive effect on Hoffman's profile as well. In addition,
Penguin Classics Penguin Classics is an imprint of Penguin Books under which classic works of literature are published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean among other languages. Literary critics see books in this series as important members of the Western ...
published Bell's new translation of
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
's ''
The Psychopathology of Everyday Life ''Psychopathology of Everyday Life'' (german: Zur Psychopathologie des Alltagslebens) is a 1901 work by Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. Based on Freud's researches into slips and parapraxes from 1897 onwards, it became perhaps the ...
'' in 2003. Oxford University Press published her translation of Kafka's ''The Castle'' in 2009. She contributed an essay titled "Translation: Walking the Tightrope of Illusion" to a 2006 book, ''The Translator as Writer'', in which she explained her preference for 'invisible' translation whereby she creates the illusion that readers are not reading a translation "but the real thing". Bell was appointed
Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours for services to literature and literary translations. Bell received the German Federal Republic's Cross of Merit in 2015.


Illness and death

In a December 2017 newspaper column, Bell's son Oliver Kamm revealed his mother had entered a nursing home due to illness a year earlier, and "her great mind has now departed". As a result of her forced retirement, the 37th book in the ''
Asterix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a ''bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Republic, wi ...
''
series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...
, ''
Asterix and the Chariot Race ''Asterix and the Chariot Race'' (French: ''Astérix et la Transitalique'', "Asterix and the Trans-Italic") is the 37th book in the Asterix series, and the third to be written by Jean-Yves Ferri and illustrated by Didier Conrad. The book was re ...
'' (published in October 2017), was translated by
Adriana Hunter Adriana Hunter is a British translator of French literature. She is known for translating over 60 French novels, such as '' Fear and Trembling'' by Amélie Nothomb or '' The Girl Who Played Go'' by Shan Sa. She has been short-listed for the Ind ...
. The end of the book has a message of thanks from the publishers to Bell for "her wonderful translation work on ''Asterix'' over the years". Bell died on 18 October 2018 at the age of 82.


Notable awards

* 1987 –
Schlegel-Tieck Prize The Schlegel-Tieck Prize for German Translation is a literary translation award given by the Society of Authors in London. Translations from the German original into English are considered for the prize. The value of the prize is £3,000.
for Hans Bemmann's ''The Stone and the Flute'' * 1996 –
Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation The Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation was a literary prize awarded in the United Kingdom from 1996 until 2017 to the translator of an outstanding work of fiction for young readers translated into English. The award was given e ...
– for
Christine Nöstlinger Christine Nöstlinger (13 October 1936 – 28 June 2018) was an Austrian writer best known for children's books. She received one of two inaugural Astrid Lindgren Memorial Awards from the Swedish Arts Council in 2003, the biggest prize in childre ...
's ''A Dog's Life'' translated from German * 2002 –
Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize The Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize is an annual literary prize named for the German–American publishers Helen and Kurt Wolff "honoring an outstanding literary translation from German into English" published in the USA the previous year ...
,
Goethe Institute The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...
– for W. G. Sebald's ''
Austerlitz Austerlitz may refer to: History * Battle of Austerlitz, an 1805 victory by the French Grand Army of Napoleon Bonaparte Places * Austerlitz, German name for Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic, which gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz a ...
'' * 2002 –
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize The ''Independent'' Foreign Fiction Prize (1990–2015) was a British literary award. It was inaugurated by British newspaper ''The Independent'' to honour contemporary fiction in translation in the United Kingdom. The award was first launched i ...
– for W. G. Sebald's ''
Austerlitz Austerlitz may refer to: History * Battle of Austerlitz, an 1805 victory by the French Grand Army of Napoleon Bonaparte Places * Austerlitz, German name for Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic, which gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz a ...
'' * 2002 –
Schlegel-Tieck Prize The Schlegel-Tieck Prize for German Translation is a literary translation award given by the Society of Authors in London. Translations from the German original into English are considered for the prize. The value of the prize is £3,000.
for W. G. Sebald's ''
Austerlitz Austerlitz may refer to: History * Battle of Austerlitz, an 1805 victory by the French Grand Army of Napoleon Bonaparte Places * Austerlitz, German name for Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic, which gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz a ...
'' * 2003 –
Schlegel-Tieck Prize The Schlegel-Tieck Prize for German Translation is a literary translation award given by the Society of Authors in London. Translations from the German original into English are considered for the prize. The value of the prize is £3,000.
– for
Karen Duve Karen Duve (born 16 November 1961 in Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , ...
's ''Rain'' translated from German * 2003 –
Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation The Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation was a literary prize awarded in the United Kingdom from 1996 until 2017 to the translator of an outstanding work of fiction for young readers translated into English. The award was given e ...
– for
Hans Magnus Enzensberger Hans Magnus Enzensberger (11 November 1929 – 24 November 2022) was a German author, poet, translator, and editor. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Andreas Thalmayr, Elisabeth Ambras, Linda Quilt and Giorgio Pellizzi. Enzensberger was regarde ...
's ''Where Were You Robert?'' translated from German * 2007 –
Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation The Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation was a literary prize awarded in the United Kingdom from 1996 until 2017 to the translator of an outstanding work of fiction for young readers translated into English. The award was given e ...
– for Kai Meyer's ''The Flowing Queen'' translated from German * 2009 –
Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize is an annual literary prize for any book-length translation into English from any other living European language. The first prize was awarded in 1999. The prize is funded by and named in honour of Lord Weidenfe ...
– for
Saša Stanišić Saša Stanišić ( sr-cyr, Саша Станишић; born 7 March 1978) is a Bosnian-German writer. He was born in Višegrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina as the son of a Bosniak mother and a Serbian father. In the spring of 1992, he fled alongside ...
's ''How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone'' * 2009 –
Schlegel-Tieck Prize The Schlegel-Tieck Prize for German Translation is a literary translation award given by the Society of Authors in London. Translations from the German original into English are considered for the prize. The value of the prize is £3,000.
for Stefan Zweig's ''Burning Secret'' * 2017 –
Eric Carle Museum The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is a museum devoted to the art of the picture book and especially the children's book. It is a member of Museums10 and is adjacent to the campus of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. The Carle wa ...
Bridge Award for contributions to children's literature


Mildred L. Batchelder Award

The
Mildred L. Batchelder Award The Mildred L. Batchelder Award, or Batchelder Award, is an American Library Association literary award that annually recognizes the publisher of the year's "most outstanding" children's book translated into English and published in the U.S. The M ...
is unusual in that it is given to a ''publisher'' yet it explicitly references a given work, its translator and its author. Its intent is to encourage the translation of children's works into English in order "''to eliminate barriers to understanding between people of different cultures, races, nations, and languages''." Anthea Bell, translating from German, French and Danish, has been mentioned for more works than any other individual or organisation (including publishers) in the history of the award:


References


Further reading

* *
Opening Speech, Anthea Bell, Shelving Translation Conference, April 2004


* ttp://writerunboxed.com/2006/08/18/interview-anthea-bell-part-1/ Anthea Bell interview with ''Writer Unboxed''
Reviews of Anthea Bell's Stefan Zweig translations at ''Bookslut''"W.G. Sebald: A Translator's View,"
by Anthea Bell at Five Dials
Anthea Bell, Translator of Freud, Kafka and Comics, Dies at 82


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Anthea 1936 births 2018 deaths Writers from Suffolk Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford British translators Danish–English translators Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature French–English translators German–English translators Literary translators Officers of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Translators of Sigmund Freud Winners of the Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation