The TRANSLATION PRIZE OF THE NORDRHEIN WESTFALLEN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS for the year 2008 has been awarded to the translator Gerhardt Csejka from Frankfurt/Main.
The NORDRHEIN WESTFALLEN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS grants the award, which at 25,000 € ranks among the highest literary prizes in the German-speaking countries, in cooperation with the Straelen European College of Translators.
Gerhardt Csejka receives this distinction for his translation of Mircea Cărtărescu’s book Orbitor – aripa stângă (Wien: Zsolnay Verlag, 2007) from Romanian into German. At the same time, the award acknowledges the translator’s general achievement.
The awarding ceremony was held on June 5, 2008 at the Straelen European College of Translators, on which occasion Dr. Fritz Schaumann, President of the NORDRHEIN WESTFALLEN FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS, will hand in the prize.
Motivation of the jury
Csejka reflects in masterfully elaborated word constructions the upheavals of Romanian history throughout the 20th century, allowing an insight into the oppressively inflexible totalitarian systems that balance between reality and paranoia.
As a translator, Csejka manages to achieve what Cărtărescu demands of the angels: being “the mediator who, decked in the armour of faith, radiates from the spirit and sets matter in motion, giving it a form and making it supple.”
The jury members were: Gertraude Krueger, Denis Scheck, Hubert Spiegel, Peter Urban- Halle; Giovanna Waeckerlin-Induni
