No big deal right? Well, it depends. I have a couple of jobs on the go at the moment, and so I'm juggling deadlines. A snow day for my clients is a work day for me; I just put on a wooly jumper and walk down the hall. They're behind, or working away from their servers on laptops or Crackberries, or they managed to get into the office, but the boss didn't, or the production manager didn't, so they're stuck waiting for a signature or a file. They can't get to the post office; the courier's not working.
'Sure', says you, 'but they get a day off, you don't.' Nyeh. I get something better – I get ahead, with no interruptions.
I'll take my snow day when the sun shines some quiet afternoon.
As previously noted, translator Michael Waaler's work on the German-language original of Cash: I See a Darkness by Reinhard Kleist was so effective that the sound of the man in black himself was said to ring off the pages. So much so, in fact, that the fact that the prize-winning graphic biography was translated at all went almost entirely unnoticed – but not, of course, here!
Said Waaler of the project and on finding Johnny Cash's voice (again) in English:
"I'd long been a fan of the comic, so I was really excited when Parkbench contacted me about translating it for SelfMadeHero. The level of dedication of all those involved in creating the English edition was fantastic and absolutely essential for what was in some ways a peculiar task. There we were, translating dialogue originally written in German for a huge American icon. On the one hand we had to remain as close to the source material as possible, but on the other hand, adapt it to its extremely distinctive setting. So, I'm really happy the comic's been so well received!"
What, you say? You weren't given a copy of CASH by your delinquent loved ones this holiday season?! Well, well, well. You might just have to treat yourself.
Parkbench translator Michael Waaler has brought German graphic artist Reinhard Kleist's prize-winning biography of Johnny Cash to new heights with the success of its English translation. Published by indie SelfMadeHero, the translation of Cash: I See A Darkness was launched in style with a party in the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, sponsored by Chivas Regal.
Michael Waaler, a British translator living in Hamburg, specialises in translating graphic novels for publishers like Carlsen Verlag, Yen Press and TOKYOPOP. (Watch this space for news of his first German-language comic from Carlsen, A Kiss from the Dark from Carlsen, due out early next year.)
Predictably enough, coverage of Cash in the US has been great. It hit Entertainment Weekly's 'Must' list, and was included in the San Francisco Chronicle's comics gift guide. In the UK, Michael Faber called it
'a tour de force'
in the Guardian with a big ole Kleist drawing of the MIB himself, and Stephen M. Deusner in the Express Night Out called the graphic novel
'the ideal medium for Cash's biography ... Cash may be six years dead, but the Man in Black is alive and still kicking.'
But the Parkbench prize for press coverage goes to the Financial Times, the only paper to mention the translator. Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, a man with the enviable title of 'the FT’s pop critic', calls the book 'seductive'.
'Enough with the blurbs,' you say. 'It's a graphic biography, so what does it look like already?' Want visuals? Have a peek at Esquirefor some choice spreads and check out a video interview with author Reinhard Kleist:
Christmas is coming, folks. Just saying. Too lazy to buy it in your local indie? Order a signed copy from Forbidden Planet, or in Ireland from Books Unlimited.
