Obit: Anthea Bell

Most of us who delighted in following the wild exploits of Asterix and Obelix in the English versions probably didn’t even think much about the translation. That’s partly because the translator, Anthea Bell, was a firm advocate of translator transparency.  She died on October 18 at the age of 82.  She was one of our larger fellowship, being a literary translator. She translated hundreds of books from French, German, and even Danish (Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales).

For a good summary of her literary career, check out the Obituary in The Economist November 3rd, 2018. 2018 (you can register for 3 articles per month free): www.economist.com/obituary/2018/11/01/obituary-anthea-bell-died-on-october-18th

Her “transparency” in translating dozens of issues of Asterix and Obelix was illustrated delightfully by her choice of the names: Asterix’s dog (Idéfix in French, became Dogmatix.  The druid potion-mixer  Panoramix became Getafix.  The bard Assurancetourix became Cacofonix.  The Roman legions who uproariously failed to wipe out the Gauls (under Chief Vitalstatistix) never failed to entertain us with names like General Cantankarus, Ubiquitus,  Valuaddetax, Monotonus, and Tortuous Convolvulus. René Goscinny, the creator of Asterix, liked some of her puns so well he wished he had thought them up himself.

We shall miss Anthea Bell’s creative wit—and transparency. There are lessons for Bible translators there.