What CDZA shares with McSweeney's Issue 42

McSweeney's Issue 42 features a telephone on the cover. This image is appropriate because inside is an elaborate game of telephone, described by the literary quarterly as "a monumental experiment in translated literature—twelve stories taken through six translators apiece, weaving into English and then back out again, gaining new twists and textures each time."

What's interesting is that shortly after Issue 42 came out, CDZA produced an equally groundbreaking piece on translation, but instead of using stories by Kafka and Kharms translated by today's leading writers, Joe Sabia used the lyrics of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song and Google Translate.
So why did both of these avant-garde media outlets choose to experiment with retranslation to reveal the curse of Babel? What is it in today's hyper-gobalized and connected society that makes us not only fascinated with the dangers of translation, but revel in the curious and humorous outcomes that can come from our imperfect communication tools, which fail to accurately port meaning from one language to another? Feel free to add your comments below.

For more on McSweeney's Issue 42, see That Other Word, and more on CDZA, see their YouTube Channel.


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