Double-Secret 2013 Translation Bake-off Voting Results
 

Again, thank you, DG 007, for making this a most successful event, especially, in spite of a most difficult personal and family tragedy. And thank you again to all who submitted and participated. Since our DG is unable to continue posting to bring you the results, it's my pleasure to tally the popular vote count and bring you the popular winners:

TOP THREE WINNERS of the 2013 Translation Bake-off are:

1. "Return of the Diplomat," Joaquim du Bellay - translated by Ann Drysdale (44 points)
2. "Catullus 39," Gaius Valerius Catullus - translated by Susan McLean (31 points)
3. "The Evening Bells," Marceline Desbordes-Valmore - translated by Joel Lamore (12 points)

Congratulations to our WINNER Ann Drysdale!

Congratulations also to our second- and third-place translators, Susan McLean and Joel Lamore respectively.

Next, here are the remaining finalists in order of popular votes received:

4. "A Compass," Jorge Luis Borges - translated by Tony Barnstone (6 points)
5. "The Steps," Albrecht Goes - translated by Marion Shore (5 points)
6. "Calm Sea," Heinrich Heine - translated by Peter Moltoni (4 points)
6. "I love my innate bent for gloom," Rainer Maria Rilke - translated by Birthe Myers (4 points)
8. "Returning from a journey, to what I'd long abandoned," Mikhail Scherbakov - translated by Ekaterina Chapiro (3 points)
9. "On the Death of a Most Honorable Man, John Manwood, Lord Chief Baron of the Queen’s Exchequer," Christopher Marlowe - translated by A.M. Juster (2 points)
10. "The Two Crosses," Jules Breton - translated by Sharon Fish Mooney (0 point)

Congratulations and thank you to all!

Finally, who is our outstanding DG 007, with a successfully and expertly completed translation bakeoff mission, and against all odds of personal circumstance? Check the DG 007's posts, with username now decoded and declassified!

Cheers,
...Alex

Alex, a thousand thanks for conducting a finely orchestrated event. Widening the net by your extensive invitational campaign, along with the double-blind approach, contributed hugely to its unqualified success. It would be interesting to all, I think, to know the total number of entries you received as a result of the campaign.

I don't know the nature of the tragedy that has fallen on Jennifer, but clearly it was significant. She is to be commended for the manner in which she saw her assignment through in the face of it. Thank you both.

Congratulations to the very worthy winners and finalists. This was a real fun event, and for myself, a standout educational experience.

Peter

The event was publicized only to all registered Eratosphereans--not broadly and externally as was the case with the last Sonnet Bake-off. As such, we had a rather low number of submissions overall--forty-six only.

Cheers,
...Alex

Thank you Alex, and thanks to all who voted for my translation. Especially to Cathy, who corrected my typographical error without drawing attention to it.

And to you, Joachim, who wrote your sonnet in the fifteen-fifties (plus ça change, eh?) I've loved you for half a century and still managed to misspell your given name.

I guessed Ann's and Mike Juster's authorship, but I was way off (or unable even to guess) on the other competitors. It was an intriguing and varied selection. Thanks to Sharon for her suggestion on changes to a line of my Catullus translation. I had had "more/inane than foolish laughter" in an earlier version and will probably revert to that or something similar as I revise.

Susan

Thank you, Alex, for a wonderful translation bake-off. The total anonymity all around made the choices and critiques more meaningful, I had really not expected my translation of Rilke to appear among the finalists, and I am absolutely elated to have been number one on Lance's list and to figure on E. Shaun Russel's list as well.
Congratulations to the three winners, they were the best.

Congratulations to the winners of these fine translations, and to the finalists, and thanks to Alex and Jennifer for making the bake-off happen.

A fine event, Alex and Jennifer and all the participants. The translations were particularly well-done.

I am honored and humbled to have my translation make 3rd. But I am especially grateful for the comments and precise critiques of the piece -- particularly from our Distinguished Guest. Those will allow me to sharpen the translation -- that is the true reward. No doubt, of course, it was Marceline Desbordes-Valmore's charming poem which deserves the credit -- I am pleased to have brought it into English with at least some of its charm intact. Thanks to everyone working on this in the background. I seldom have time to participate much in Eratosphere these days -- I really think it is an unparalleled site for poetry workshop, discussion and theory -- so it was fun to be a part of this. Thanks.

Thank you all for the critiques – I am going to start working with someone with a French lit background for future cribs. I just sent her the poem. Thanks especially to Don and to Chris Childers and Ann for encouraging me to keep pursuing Breton on my own when discussing using cribs by others ... Ann wrote on the prose crib thread … “you need the instinctive feeling for the work itself, for Breton, for what his ghost whispers to you when you are alone together. You have to call on the love that drove you to undertake the task in the first place. That, for what it's worth, is what I do” – so I hope to stumble along with my own initial translation attempts (as I do love this guy) , but also looking forward to more collaboration and then feedback on the revisions for a better final product.