Christiane Marks

Translating works of fiction and poetry is a multi-dimensional challenge - not only must you translate the words on the page, but also the spirit and beauty behind those words. Christiane Marks, an acclaimed translator of Rilke, will be coming to Unbound to discuss the demands and rewards of this under-appreciated discipline.

Since becoming bilingual at the age of nine, Christiane Marks has been fascinated with translation, noting how different it was to read about Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in the original rather than in German translation. She majored in Comparative Literature at Earlham College, and earned an MA in German Literature at the University of Cincinnati. She has translated numerous articles, historic family letters, and two books. In the 1990s she started translating the poetry of Rilke, immersing herself not only in his poems, but also in his voluminous, important correspondence, his whole life and his thought.  She is gradually finding an English voice that is true to him.