J. M. (John Michael) Cohen (5 February 1903 – 19 July 1989) was a prolific translator of European literature into English.

Life

Born in London, J.M. Cohen was educated at St. Paul's School and

Queens' College Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light sid ...

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. After working in his father's manufacturing business from 1925 until 1940, he was moved by a wartime shortage of teachers to become a schoolmaster. In addition to teaching young people, he spent the war years teaching himself Spanish and Russian, and he launched his translation career with the first English translation of poems by

Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (; rus, Бори́с Леони́дович Пастерна́к, p=bɐˈrʲis lʲɪɐˈnʲidəvʲɪtɕ pəstɛrˈnak; 30 May 1960) was a Russian poet, novelist, composer and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pa ...

, then unknown outside the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. His translation of Pasternak garnered praise from American poet

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

, in his book ''Other Traditions''. In 1946, on the strength of a commission from

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Samuel Putnam Samuel Putnam (October 10, 1892 – January 15, 1950) was an American translator and scholar of Romance languages. He is also noteworthy as the author of ''Paris Was Our Mistress'', a memoir on writers and artists associated with the American ex-p ...

on the basis of Cohen being "too faithful to the original." In addition to his translations of major works of Spanish and French literature for Penguin, Cohen also edited several important anthologies of Spanish and Latin American literature, as well as many of the Penguin Classics (alongside

E. V. Rieu Emile Victor Rieu CBE (10 February 1887 – 11 May 1972) was a British classicist, publisher, poet and translator. He initiated the Penguin Classics series of books in 1946 and edited it for twenty years. Biography Rieu was born in London, the ...

). He played an instrumental role in the ''Latin Boom'' of the 1960s by translating works by

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...

Octavio Paz Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and ...

, and

Carlos Fuentes Carlos Fuentes Macías (; ; November 11, 1928 – May 15, 2012) was a Mexican novelist and essayist. Among his works are ''The Death of Artemio Cruz'' (1962), ''Aura'' (1962), '' Terra Nostra'' (1975), ''The Old Gringo'' (1985) and ''Christopher ...

, and by bringing the works of

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter, and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one ...

to the attention of his future English publisher. He also wrote a number of works of literary criticism and biography. In its obituary, ''

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'' ( ...

'' described him as "the translator of foreign prose classics for our times." ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' declared that he "did perhaps more than anyone else in his generation to introduce British readers to the classics of world literature by making them available in good modern English translations."

Selected translations by Cohen

Montaigne Scholarship discussion table Shimer College 2011

, ''Selected Poems'', London: Drummond, 1946. *

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best kno ...

, ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...

'', Penguin, 1950. *

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

, ''The Confessions'', Penguin, 1953. *

François Rabelais François Rabelais ( , , ; born between 1483 and 1494; died 1553) was a French Renaissance writer, physician, Renaissance humanist, monk and Greek scholar. He is primarily known as a writer of satire, of the grotesque, and of bawdy jokes ...

, ''The Histories of Gargantua and Pantagruel'', Penguin, 1955. *

St. Teresa of Avila ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

, ''The Life of St. Teresa of Avila by Herself'', Penguin, 1957. *

Michel de Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a lit ...

, ''Essays'', Penguin, 1958. * Bernal Díaz, ''The Conquest of New Spain'', Penguin, 1963. * Fernando de Rojas, ''La Celestina or The Spanish Bawd: Being the Tragi-Comedy of Calisto and Melibea'', Penguin, 1964. *

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Pierre Teilhard de Chardin ( (); 1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, theologian, philosopher and teacher. He was Darwinian in outlook and the author of several influential theological and philo ...

, ''The Appearance of Man'', London: Collins, 1965. * Agustin de Zárate, ''The Discovery and Conquest of Peru'', Penguin, 1968. *

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

, ''The Four Voyages of Christopher Columbus; Being His Own Log-book, Letters and Dispatches with Connecting Narrative Drawn from the Life of the Admiral by His Son Hernando Colon and Other Contemporary Historians'', Penguin, 1969. *

Heberto Padilla Heberto Juan Padilla (20 January 1932 – 25 September 2000) was a Cuban poet put to the center of the so-called Padilla affair when he was imprisoned for criticizing the Cuban government. He was born in Puerta de Golpe, Pinar del Río, Cuba. ...

, ''Sent off the Field: A Selection from the Poetry of Heberto Padilla'', London: Deutsch, 1972.

Books and anthologies edited by Cohen

* ''The Penguin Book of Comic and Curious Verse'', Penguin, 1952. * ''Penguin Book of Spanish Verse'', Penguin, 1956 (new editions, 1962 and 1988). * ''More Comic and Curious Verse'', Penguin, 1956. * ''Yet More Comic and Curious Verse'', Penguin, 1959. * (with Mark J. Cohen) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Quotations'', Penguin, 1960. * ''Poetry of This Age: 1908–1965'', Harper, 1966. * ''Latin American Writing Today'', Penguin, 1967. * ''Writers in the New Cuba: An Anthology'', Penguin, 1967. * (with Mark J. Cohen), ''The Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations'', Penguin, 1971. * (with Mark J. Cohen) ''The New Penguin Dictionary of Quotations'', Viking, 1992. * ''The Common Experience'', an anthology of mystical writing * ''The Rider Book of Mystical Verse'', Rider & Co, 1983.

Books written by Cohen

* ''Robert Browning'', London: Longmans, Green, 1952. * ''A History of Western Literature'', Penguin, 1956. * ''The Life of Ludwig Mond'', London: Methuen & Co., 1956. * ''Poetry of This Age (1959, revised 1966) * ''Robert Graves'', Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1960. * ''English Translators and Translations'', London: Longmans, Green, 1962. * ''The Baroque Lyric'', London: Hutchinson, 1963. * ''Jorge Luis Borges'', New York: Barnes & Noble, 1973. * ''Journeys down the Amazon: Being the Extraordinary Adventures and Achievements of the Early Explorers'', London: C. Knight, 1975.

Works cited

References

External links

J.M. Cohen – Penguin UK Authors
*Translated Penguin Books – a
Penguin First Editions
reference site of early first edition Penguin Books. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, John Michael 1903 births 1989 deaths People educated at St Paul's School, London Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Anthologists 20th-century British translators Russian–English translators Spanish–English translators Translators of Miguel de Cervantes French–English translators