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The International Library Part II: Translating Traditions / Translating the Book of Genesis

  • The Center for Fiction 14 Lafayette Avenue Brooklyn, NY, 11217 United States (map)

A striking example of translation and its many layers—of language, of myth, of tradition—Samantha Schnee’s new English translation of Mexican author Carmen Boullosa’s The Book of Eve (El libro de Eva) twists, challenges, and ultimately revises a classic tale for a contemporary moment. As Eve, fueled by “fiery disobedience,” tells her own version of the Book of Genesis, she brazenly rejects the stories that have oppressed women across millennia. No, she was not created from Adam’s rib; no, she was not expelled from the Garden of Eden for nibbling a forbidden apple; and no, humanity was not deluged by a great flood. Join Schnee and Boullosa for a conversation about translation twice (and sometimes thrice) over.