The relationship between an author and a translator is often simply a business partnership. But Dartmouth professors Ana Merino and Elizabeth Polli, friends and colleagues in the Spanish department, have developed a close personal relationship while producing an English translation of Merino's fifth book of poetry, "Cell Mate."
Merino's poetry, Polli said, exhibits a dark side of Merino's personality that Polli had not known before.
"When you know a person as a person, you know them in a friendship way," she said. "But when you go into the depth of poetry, you gain an appreciation for someone as an artist as well as a person."
But in spite of the poem's the collection's dark and personal themes, Polli said that Merino's sense of humor emerges throughout the work.
"I have a very sarcastic sense of humor sometimes, an ironic one," Merino responded. "I used that in some poems."
A desire for social justice permeates the collection, figuring prominently in the poem "Rock, Paper, Scissors," which details the challenges faced by North African immigrants that cross the Spanish border illegally.
Though Merino said she does not have a favorite poem in the collection, she remarked that "Rock, Paper, Scissors," which references a popular childhood game, resonates with many readers.
"It speaks about a theme that everyone recognizes because it's a game that you play when you're a kid," she said. "But it's speaking about people in so painful a situation, so dramatic a reality, just trying to make a better life."
The majority of the poems in "Cell Mate" were written in New Hampshire, though Merino included a set of poems she composed while in Puebla, Mexico. These poems include "City of Sand" and "The Fifth Sky," which address themes of child labor and the plight of young girls in Mexico.
"The Mexico poems have a much warmer sensation, a different light," Merino said.
The collection, which was originally released as "Compaera de Celda" in 2006, is the first of Merino's books to be translated into English. Both women are currently working to translate Merino's fourth book of poems, "Children's Games." This collection is split into two parts, the first is about childhood and the second is about femininity. She said that this second part contains images of women as both mermaids and witches, a duality that parallels themes of light and darkness in "Cell Mate."
"When we are in our teens and twenties, we are mermaids, but then something changes," Merino said. "The book is about how society and the world perceives us as women."
Though Polli is familiar with Merino's writing, she remarked that each collection brings with it its own set of challenges.
"Once you become familiar with someone's work, the translation process becomes easier, because you have already gone into this space where you understand the point of view of the author," she said. "Because each poem is different, though, it takes you on a completely different path."
Polli also said that she thinks the translation process is vital to language education.
"Translation is so important for transcultural and translingual awareness, and [Merino and I] both feel that it is important to include somehow in how our students see the world," she said.
The professors are considering the possibility of using Merino's work in both languages in future Spanish classes at Dartmouth. While neither Polli nor Merino has used "Cell Mate" as part of a course's curriculum, they agreed that translated literature enhances the process of learning a new language.
Polli and Merino have appeared jointly at poetry readings in the Upper Valley.
"It's very weird to have the translator and the creator reading together," Merino said. "I read the poem in Spanish and Elizabeth reads the poem in English, which makes the reading have a deepness and richness."
