Bernhard Robben

Bernhard Robben, Jennifer duBois and Anna Thalbach after a reading at the English Theater Berlin (2013)

Bernhard Robben ( pseudonym : Robin Seals , born September 13, 1955 in Haselünne , Emsland ) is a German literary translator .

Life

Bernhard Robben passed his matriculation examination at the Neuss Quirinus-Gymnasium in 1974 . He then completed a degree in German , history and philosophy from 1975 to 1977 at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau , which he continued from 1977 to 1983 at the Free University of Berlin and graduated with a master's degree. From 1983 to 1984 he worked as a German teacher in Bangor , Northern Ireland . Robben has been a freelance journalist since 1986 (including for the BBC from 1989 to 1994 ) and translator. Since 1992 he has lived with his family in the Brandenburg town of Brunne , where he was honorary mayor from 1995 to 2003.

Bernhard Robben's extensive translation work consists primarily of transcriptions of narrative works by British, Irish and American authors. In addition, he moderates author readings, e.g. B. during the annual Lit.Cologne .

When asked "What is it about translating?" he gave the answer in 2016:

“To dive into a new world with every new book, to which I almost exclusively leave myself for three or four months; To learn their language, their point of view and their way of thinking until I'm good enough to be able to cheat my way as a local. "

- B. Robben, on dtv , for Hieronymus Day 2016

Prices

• 2003 Straelen Translator Prize from the Kunststiftung NRW .
• In 2013 he was awarded the Heinrich Maria Ledig-Rowohlt Prize for his literary life's work, the translation from English.
• In 2015 he received the Brandenburg State Art Prize in the translation category.

Scholarships

• Single House New York
• International Writers' Center Rhodes
• Tyrone Guthrie Center in Annaghmakerrig, Ireland
• University of East-Anglia, Norwich
• Baltic Center for Writers and Translators, Visby, Gotland
• Collège International des Traducteurs Littéraires in Arles, France
• The Banff Center, Canada
• Working grants, State of Lower Saxony
• Working grants, State of Brandenburg
• Working grants, German Translator Fund

Editing

• Irish reader , Munich 2001

Translations

• Uwem Akpan : Say that you are one of them , Berlin 2012
• Martin Amis : Einstein's monster , Reinbek 1988
• Nadeem Aslam : The House of the Five Senses , Reinbek 2010
• Nadeem Aslam: The Blind Man's Garden , Munich 2014
• Nadeem Aslam: The Golden Legend , Munich 2017
• John Banville : Doctor Copernicus , Frankfurt am Main 1999
• John Banville: Kepler , Frankfurt am Main 1997
• John Banville: Newton's Letter , Frankfurt am Main 2002
• Kevin Barry : Dark City Bohane , Stuttgart 2015
• Neil Belton: A game with sharpened blades , Frankfurt 2007
• Thomas Berger : Adventure of an Artificial Woman , Berlin 2006
• Thomas Berger: Monday October 9th , Frankfurt am Main 1994
• Martin Booth: Schurik's birthday , Munich 2002
• Geraldine Brooks : The Daughters of Allah , Munich 1994
• John Burnside : Glister , Munich 2009
• John Burnside: Ashland & Vine , Munich 2017
• John Burnside: Coldhaven (radio play), SWR 2017 (translated together with Klaus Buhlert )
• John Burnside: Like everyone else , Munich 2016
• John Burnside: Lies About My Father , Munich 2011
• John Burnside: The Devil's Trail , Munich 2008
• Peter Carey : Liebe , Frankfurt am Main 2008
• Peter Carey: Parrot and Olivier in America , Frankfurt am Main 2010
• Peter Carey: The chemistry of tears , Roman, Frankfurt am Main 2013
• Don Carpenter: Fridays at Einrico's , Stuttgart 2016
• Rich Cohen: Lake Shore Drive , Frankfurt am Main 2003
• Rich Cohen: Murder Inc. or Not Quite Kosher Shops in Brooklyn , Frankfurt am Main 1999
• John Darnton : Valley of Life , Munich 1996 (translated together with Wulf Bergner )
• Claire Davis: The Snow of Montana , Hamburg 2001
• Louis de Bernières : Labels , Berlin 1999
• Alain de Botton : Airport , Frankfurt 2010
• Alain de Botton: The joys and toil of work , Frankfurt 2012
• Alain De Botton: Happiness and Architecture , Frankfurt 2008
• Pete Dexter : Paperboy, Munich 2013
• Pete Dexter: Black on White , Munich 1996
• Nicholas Evans : Im Kreis des Wolfs , Munich 1998 (translated under the name Robin Seals)
• Nicholas Evans: The Horse Whisperer , Munich 1995
• Alex Haley : Queen , Munich 1994
• Elizabeth Hardwick : Herman Melville , Munich 2002
• Charles Harrison : Modernism , Ostfildern-Ruit 2001
• Aleksandar Hemon : Nowhere man , Munich 2003
• Patricia Highsmith : A Game for the Living , Zurich 2005
• Laura Hird : Nägel , Frankfurt am Main 2003
• Howard Jacobson : The Finkler Question , Munich 2011
• Terry Jones : Nicobobinus , Frankfurt am Main 1994
• Yoram Kanyuk : The Queen, her lover and I , Munich 2004
• Nicola Keegan: Swimming , Reinbek 2010
• Faye Kellerman : Becca , Frankfurt am Main 1993
• Hanif Kureishi : Blue is love , Munich 1997
• Hanif Kureishi: The Buddha from the suburbs , Munich 1990
• Hanif Kureishi: Dark like the day , Reinbek 2000
• Hanif Kureishi: Intimacy , Reinbek 2001 (translated together with Leonie von Reppert-Bismarck)
• Hanif Kureishi: The Black Album , Munich 1995
• Mark Kurzem: Mascot , Frankfurt 2008
• Erik Larson : The Devil of Chicago , Frankfurt am Main 2004
• Starling Lawrence: Montenegro , Munich 1998
• Andrea Levy : An English Kind of Happiness , Frankfurt am Main 2007
• Adam Mars-Jones: Not unlike fire , Reinbek 1988
• Pete McCarthy: McCarthy's bar , Munich 2002
• Tom McCarthy : K , Munich 2012
• Mike McCormack : An unusual novel about an ordinary man , Göttingen 2019
• Ian McEwan : Atonement , Zurich 2002
• Ian McEwan: Am Strand , Zurich 2007
• Ian McEwan: Last summer day , Zurich 2005
• Ian McEwan: Saturday , Zurich 2005
• Ian McEwan: Nutshell , Zurich 2016
• Ian McEwan: Machines like me , Zurich 2019
• Ian McEwan: The Cockroach , Zurich 2019
• Andrew D. Miller : The ice cold season of love , Frankfurt 2012
• Brian Moore : The Ice Cream King , Zurich 1996
• Brian Moore: The Wizard's Wife , Zurich 1998
• Brian Moore: Hetzjagd , Zurich 1997
• Brian Moore: Mangan's Legacy , Zurich 1999
• Brian Moore: Beach Birthday , Zurich 1996
• Roger Morris : Sold Souls , Munich 2008
• William Nicholson : The Society of Others , Frankfurt am Main 2005
• Henri JM Nouwen : Finding our sacred center , Münsterschwarzach 1998
• Sigrid Nunez : Like a feather on God's breath , Munich 1996
• Colm O'Gaora: Farewell to love . Frankfurt am Main 2000
• Marian O'Neill: Miss Elliott , Stuttgart 2001
• Charles Palliser : Quincunx , Munich 1991
• Glenn Patterson: Dangerous Memory , Cologne 2007
• Glenn Patterson: House number 5 , Cologne 2004
• Jack Ritchie: solitary confinement , Zurich 1995
• Frank Ronan : Cosmic dancer , Frankfurt am Main 2003
• Frank Ronan: The man who loved Evelyn Cotton , Frankfurt am Main 1997
• Frank Ronan: Picnic in Eden , Frankfurt am Main 1999
• Philip Roth : Own and foreign books, reread , Munich 2007
• Philip Roth: Shop talk , Munich [a. a.] 2004
• Salman Rushdie : The Enchanting Florentine , Reinbek 2009
• Salman Rushdie: Joseph Anton , Munich 2012 (translated together with Verena von Koskull )
• Salman Rushdie: Luka and Das Lebensfeuer , Reinbek 2011
• Salman Rushdie: Shalimar the Fool , Reinbek 2006
• Upton Sinclair: Babbitt , Munich 2017 * Jason Starr : Hard feelings , Zurich 2003
• Jason Starr: The Last Bet , Zurich 2001
• Jason Starr: Top job , Zurich 1998
• Jason Starr: Twisted city , Zurich 2005
• Vikas Swarup : Again and again Gandhi . Cologne 2010
• Vikas Swarup: Rupees! Rupees! . Cologne 2005
• Leon Uris : island of freedom . Berlin 1995 (translated together with Wulf Bergner )
• Stephen Vizinczey : The Ten Commandments of a Writer . Munich 2004 (translated together with Melanie Walz )
• Matthew Weiner : All About Heather . Hamburg 2017
• Marianne Wiggins: John Dollar . Vienna 1990
• John Williams : Augustus . 2016
• John Williams: Butcher's Crossing . 2015
• John Williams: Nothing but the night . 2017
• John Williams: Stoner . 2013
• John Wray : The Secret of Lost Time , Reinbek 2016
• John Wray: Gotteskind , Reinbek 2019

Web links

• Homepage of Bernhard Robben
• Literature by and about Bernhard Robben in the catalog of the German National Library
• Interview with Bernhard Robben , Lit.Cologne 2010
• 2003: Straelen Translator Prize from the Kunststiftung NRW for Christa Schuenke and Bernhard Robben

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Börsenblatt des Deutschen Buchhandels