The Craft of Translation (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)

The nine essays collected in The Craft of Translation contain plenty of theoretical speculation about "working in the space between languages." Fortunately, though, most of the authors avoid getting bogged down in abstraction. Indeed, luminaries like William Weaver and Margaret Sayers Peden stick to a nuts-and-bolts analysis of exactly how one word gets chosen over another. And Gregory Rabassa's opening salvo ("No Two Snowflakes Are Alike"), which addresses some of the basic dilemmas of literary translation, should fascinate beginners and polished professionals alike.