In "Lost in Translation: What the First Line of 'The Stranger' Should Be," Ryan Bloom argues for a specific translation of the first sentence of Albert Camus' The Stranger.
Pair “God Sees the Truth, But Waits” with “Lost in Translation: What the First Line of ‘The Stranger’ Should Be” and ask students to reflect on the experience of reading a translated text. What are the important traits and motivations of Ivan Aksionov and Makar Semyonich in “God Sees the Truth, But Waits” and how do you know? What are the important traits and motivations of Meursault according to the author of “Lost in Translation: What the First Line of ‘The Stranger’ Should Be”? Based on the author’s argument in “Lost in Translation: What the First Line of ‘The Stranger’ Should Be,” how do you think your understanding of the characters in “God Sees the Truth, But Waits” may have been shaped by the translator’s decisions? If you could or can read Russian, would you want to read this text in the original language? Why or why not?