From Deseret News archives:
Passion is driving force behind translator's work
"He is a remarkable man, currently a vigorous 82. I can imagine him writing into his 90s."
Costa spoke by phone from her home in Leicester, England, where she is hard at work on Saramago's next novel, "Essay on Elucidity," a title certain to be changed when it appears in English. It is, said Costa, "a companion piece to Saramago's earlier work, 'Blindness,' and has some of the same characters."
The Saramago novel she hopes everyone is reading now is "The Double," about a history teacher who accidentally discovers there is a man who bears a surprising exact resemblance to himself.
Saramago's first novel was "The Land of Sin," published in 1947, but he didn't write a second until 1977 "Manual of Painting and Calligraphy." The reason for the long period of silence, said Saramago, was he had "nothing to say."
Costa has read all of Saramago's books. "I go through them so many times at least 10 times. A good writer is telling you what word to use through a strong narrative voice. But it has to pass through my imagination to have conviction behind it."
Of the many Saramago books for which Costa has been translator, her favorite is "All the Names," because, she said, "It is the most vividly imagined, it is very gripping, the central character is so touching and beautifully realized."
Costa loves translating and does it full-time. And she has her work mapped out through the end of 2006 Spanish and Portuguese manuscripts by various authors.
She creates at least 10 drafts of each manuscript in her effort to achieve perfection. It takes her about four months to complete her work on a novel, although she tries to space the project over eight months, so she has time to "leave it aside and get some distance," then go back and put the finishing touches on it.
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