South African Nobel Prize in Literature laureate J. M. Coetzee, who currently resides in Madrid, discussed the challenges of translating his later work from Spanish into other languages. He admitted that the effort highlighted a widening gap between languages and the dominance of English in global publishing, expressing disappointment at the difficulty of preserving original nuance in translation.
On Monday in Madrid, Coetzee was named to inaugurate the Escri bir el Prado project, a collaboration between the Prado Museum and the Loewe Foundation. The initiative invites internationally acclaimed authors to engage with the museum’s collections through narrative exploration, inviting an intimate dialogue between literature and visual art.
At a public talk held at the Prado with Mariana Dimópulos, the author’s Spanish translator, the discussion centered on translating recent work into English and then back into Spanish. Dimópulos, a philosopher and writer, translated the author’s latest novel into English, which was then requested for Spanish publication, tracing the complicated path of multilingual reception.
Coetzee reflected on the initial reluctance and eventual acceptance that language shapes perception. He recalled moments of disappointment with English as a global lingua franca and noted how language politics can influence creative decisions and readership across borders.
He described a scenario where the original text, if written in a so‑called “minor” language, might travel more freely through translations into Spanish, a situation he considered instructive about linguistic authority in publishing. The discussion touched on how markets in Poland, France, Japan, and elsewhere sometimes resist translating a Spanish edition, preferring to treat it as a faithful rendering of the original rather than a separate rendition. The book, published by a small press, spent eight months primarily in Spanish, highlighting how publication realities can shape a work’s trajectory.
Coetzee argued that translation is not a mere linguistic transfer but a negotiation of cultural authority. When language power is strong enough to override a text’s original voice, he suggested, the integrity of the original can be compromised, and the translator’s craft becomes a crucial mediator in preserving meaning.
The author, who will spend late June through mid‑July in Madrid to contribute to the Prado project, plans to compose a new piece connected with the museum. The work will explore the intersection of literature and plastic arts, attempting to draw expressive links between fiction and visual form within the Prado’s storied halls.
During the conversation, Coetzee and Dimópulos examined language and imagery, asking whether words can fully translate pictures and what those pictures convey across different galleries, including the Prado and other major collections. They explored the limits of translation when it comes to nonverbal representations and the emotions evoked by images, acknowledging that some visual meanings resist direct verbal transcription.
Starting with a few Spanish phrases, the writer discussed the imagery embedded in his characters and the role of music in shaping narrative rhythm. He then shifted to English for the talk but promised to conduct future sessions entirely in Spanish. The discussion acknowledged the influence of all three arts—literature, painting, and music—on how a rhythm carries across different media and languages.
Javier Solana, chair of the Prado Museum’s Board of Trustees; Sheila Loewe, president of the Loewe Foundation; and Miguel Falomir, the museum’s director, reaffirmed the museum’s long‑standing commitment to the Escribir el Prado program. They noted the enduring interest from contemporary writers in the art of the past and the program’s aim to foster meaningful dialogue between authors and visual culture.