Translating the Book

I first met Kings Lynn’s medieval visionary Margery Kempe when I was an undergraduate. 50 years later I still don’t feel that I know her well.

Reading her Book, the first known autobiography in English, is the only way to make her acquaintance. It’s available both in Margery’s Norfolky Middle English and in modern translations.

My own translation appeared in 1995, and the way it was marketed showed conflicting views of Margery’s life and character. The UK edition bore a pious artwork on its front cover; the US edition sported raspberry-coloured vulgarity, attracting the hurried hands of travellers at airports and railway stations. (It sold five times better than the UK edition.)

Covers of successive editions of 'The Book of Margery Kempe' as translated by Tony D Triggs.

As if by way of compromise, the cover of the latest edition, published by Gracewing, shows drunken pilgrims in muted colours!

A feature of my translation is that whereas Kempe consistently calls herself 'this creature' and 'she' my translation changes this to the first person - 'I.' This brings a gain in immediacy but incurs a cost.

I'd be glad to feature other published translations if the authors would like to contact me with bibliographical details and mention of any 'pros or cons' their translations may have.