The first translation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm was into Ukrainian, and the American occupying forces in Germany helped the Russians trash many copies for its political and linguistic heresy. The latest translation, Animal Fairm translatit intae Scots, is by Thomas Clark. London is not sending tanks across Hadrian’s Wall, but you can see the parallels. We live in an Orwellian era.
Russian rulers consider Ukrainian un-necessary, and many English speakers might wonder why Scots is needed. Clark is not dogmatic about it, but independence looms. Orwell was an internationalist, Clark points out, but while he wrote about totalitarianism, he also thought deeply about how language is both an enabler and a shield against totalitarianism.
In our next FPA briefing on Language, Orwell and Scots independence, Thomas Clark, a poet and writer, who has also translated Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Alice in Wonderland and A Series of Unfortunate Events, talks to FPA President Ian Williams, whose book Political and Cultural Perceptions of George Orwell: British and American Views deserved a better translator for the title.
Closed captioning will not be necessary. Tom and Ian both speak English – after their fashion.
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