International Bookshelf

The idea that diverse languages are a form of divine punishment, serving only to separate us, is a popular one in numerous mythologies and religious traditions. In Genesis, humanity is unified by a common tongue until God, concerned that the people are becoming too powerful and proud, scatters them and creates different languages. Invented systems such as Esperanto have sought to remove this curse through the reinstatement of a common tongue. In an era when language death is increasingly common, however, we’d like to take a moment to celebrate language’s heterogeneity — as well as the translators who ensure that language barriers don’t prevent us from sharing our literature across cultures.

Here’s a sampling of works that have achieved international success in translation. Turkish novelist Orhan Pahmuk and Portuguese author Jose Saramago’s works have earned them both Nobel prizes. Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist holds the Guinness World record for the most-translated book. Norwegian Wood is often cited as the book that made Japanese author Haruki Murakami a national superstar, a fame that has since evolved into international celebrity. Dai Sijie’s Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, which mirrors the writer’s own experience in Maoist China before emigrating to France, was an international bestseller. Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina has not only endured in the century-plus since its publication, but continues to earn top billing in lists of history’s greatest literary works.