David Bellos' 6 favorite translated books

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy; translated by Rosemary Edmonds (out of print). The greatest novel of all time, knotting and then untangling historical, military, philosophical, sentimental, religious, and social themes over a vast period. Rosemary Edmonds, who was Charles de Gaulle's personal interpreter during WW II, wrote the translation that I cherish the most.

Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau; translated by Barbara Wright (New Directions, $13). The same silly anecdote told in 99 different ways. In Wright's stupendously inventive translation, this unlikely formula becomes more than a game — it's a symphony in verbal form and high-wire artistry worthy of the big top.

A Void by Georges Perec; translated by Gilbert Adair (Godine, $18). Allegedly untranslatable because of the complete absence of the letter E, A Void shows just how far a gifted and witty translator can go to make "impossible" a redundant word in the vocabulary of translation. Adair's hilarious E-free version of Poe's "The Raven" is worth the price of the book alone.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The Czar's Madman by Jaan Kross; translated by Anselm Hollo (out of print). A magical re-creation of the life of Timotheus von Bock, Estonian nobleman and confidant of Czar Alexander II, who was flung into a dungeon and then declared mad. By one of the most sly and gifted storytellers to emerge from the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states.

The Journals of a White Sea Wolf by Mariusz Wilk; translated by Danusia Stok (Random House UK, $30). Reportage by a Polish journalist from the prison island of Solovki, near the Arctic Circle. A shiver-inducing yet humane reflection on survival in extreme conditions.

The Journal of Hélène Berr translated by David Bellos (Weinstein, $16). Discovered after it lay on top of a wardrobe for half a century, this personal diary of a gifted, sensitive young Jewish woman living in Paris under the German occupation is both a tragic historical document and a work of great literary merit. Of all the books I have translated, the Journal is the most moving by far.

— David Bellos' new book, Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything, will be released Oct. 11