Peter Constantine (born 1963) is a British-born American literary translator who has translated literary works from German, Russian, French, Modern Greek, Ancient Greek, Italian, Albanian, Dutch, and Slovene.

Biography

Constantine was born in London to an Austrian mother and a British father of Turkish and Greek descent. He grew up in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Greece before moving to the United States in 1983. In his first books, ''Japanese Street Slang'' and ''Japanese Slang: Uncensored'' he explored Japanese slang and criminal

jargon Jargon, or technical language, is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside ...

s in their many varieties, focusing on aspects of the Japanese language that had been traditionally marginalised. "Previously unprintable things that will inform, amuse, shock and maybe even disgust" (Joseph LaPenta: ''Daily Yomiuri'', 6 December 1992). In the early 1990s, Constantine began translating short stories and poetry from various European languages, publishing in literary magazines in the United States, Britain, and Australia. Since the publication of his first book-length translation, ''

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

: Six Early Stories'', he has worked almost exclusively as a literary translator. ''Contemporary Authors'' quotes Constantine: "I have always been interested in language in all its aspects. Working with master linguists such as Thomas Mann, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, and Babel has been particularly rewarding for me, since these writers push language to an extreme, and the translator has to vigorously mold the translation in order to try to recreate their effects."

Honors

In 1998, Constantine received the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize for his translation of

's ''Six Early Stories''. It was chosen by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' as a Notable Book of the Year. In 1999 he was awarded the

National Translation Award The National Translation Award is awarded annually by the American Literary Translators Association The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) is an organization in the United States dedicated to literary translation. ALTA promotes literar ...

for ''The Undiscovered Chekhov: Thirty-Eight New Stories''. In 2002, Constantine's translation of ''The Complete Works of

Isaac Babel Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel ( – 27 January 1940) was a Soviet writer, journalist, playwright, and literary translator. He is best known as the author of ''Red Cavalry'' and ''Odessa Stories'', and has been acclaimed as "the greatest prose write ...

'', edited by Nathalie Babel, received a Koret Jewish Book Award and a

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1943, is an American organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. The goal of the council, as stated on its website, is "to promote the reading, writing and publishing of qual ...

citation. His translation of the modern Greek poet Stylianos Harkianakis's poetry book ''Mother'' received the 2004–2005 Hellenic Association of Translators of Literature Prize. In 2007 Constantine was the recipient of the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize for his translation of Benjamin Lebert's novel ''The Bird Is a Raven''. His translation of ''The Essential Writings of Machiavelli'' was a finalist for the 2008 PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize. Peter Constantine is a 2012 Ellen Maria Gorrissen

Berlin Prize The Berlin Prize is a residential fellowship at the Hans Arnhold Center, awarded by the American Academy in Berlin to scholars and artists. Each year, about 20 fellows are selected. The stated mission of the program is to improve the transatlan ...

Fellow at the

American Academy in Berlin The American Academy in Berlin is a private, independent, nonpartisan research and cultural institution in Berlin dedicated to sustaining and enhancing the long-term intellectual, cultural, and political ties between the United States and German ...

. In 2016, Constantine received an honorary doctorate, Doctor of Humane Letters, from the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

Translator

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Author

* * * * * * * *

Editor

* Editor-in-chief, ''New Poetry in Translation''. * * * * ''The Caribbean Writer'', Volume 12, 1998. Special Section: Poems by Celie Diaquoi Deslandes, edited and translated by Peter Constantine from the French. * ''The Caribbean Writer'', Volume 10, 1996. Special Section: Surinamese short fiction by Paul Bandel, Hélène Ramjiawan, Anne Zeggen en Monique Pool. Edited and translated by Peter Constantine from the Dutch.

Theatre

Translations and adaptations

*''Sarah Bernhardt Comes to Town'', by

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

. Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts and Moving Theater. Directed by

Vanessa Redgrave Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress. In her career spanning over six decades, she has garnered List of awards and nominations received by Vanessa Redgrave, numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony A ...

. World Premiere, 2 May 1998. Performed by

and Rachel Kempson. *''Sarah Bernhardt Comes to Town: An Evening of Chekhov'', by

, adapted by Vanessa Redgrave. 7 August 1999. Directed by

. Performed by

Lynn Redgrave Lynn Rachel Redgrave (8 March 1943 – 2 May 2010) was a British and American actress. During a career that spanned five decades, she won two Golden Globe Awards and was nominated for two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, two Em ...

, Rachel Kempson and

. *''Maria'', by

. Pigott Theater, Stanford. Directed by Carl Weber. Premiere 19 February 2004. *''The Mandrake'', by

Niccolò Machiavelli Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was a Florentine diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian who lived during the Italian Renaissance. He is best known for his political treatise '' The Prince'' (), writte ...

. The Pearl Theatre, New York. Directed by Jim Calder. Premiere 8 January 2008. *''The Oedipus Cycle'', by

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

. The Pearl Theatre, New York. Directed by Shepard Sobel. Premiere 27 October 2008.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Constantine, Peter 1963 births English male writers Writers from London Literary translators American translators British translators Albanian–English translators Dutch–English translators French–English translators German–English translators Greek–English translators Translators of Ancient Greek texts Japanese–English translators Italian–English translators Russian–English translators Slovene–English translators American speculative fiction translators British speculative fiction translators 21st-century British translators Translation awards Living people