German can take a lot more pathos than English can. When you say "pathetic" in English it's a disparaging term, but when you say "pathetisch" in German it's just a description, not necessarily negative. That says a lot already. — Daniel Kehlmann Copy Share Image
English is much drier. You can get away with a lot less. Pathos, lyricism, these are things you have to tone down if you want the English version of the book to work. — Daniel Kehlmann Copy Share Image
When I look at life I try to be as agnostic and unmetaphysical as possible. So I have to admit that, most probably, we… — Daniel Kehlmann Copy Share
“Sweat was running down my face. The next turn wasn’t too bad, and I noticed an old barn on the roadside, the roof caved-in,… — Daniel Kehlmann Copy Share
A neglect of one's sentimental education early in life could bear the most unfortunate fruit. — Daniel Kehlmann Copy Share
It was both odd and unjust, a real example of pitiful arbitrariness of existance, that you were born into a particular time & held… — Daniel Kehlmann Copy Share
You say fate is almost indispensable to literature - I think it's completely indispensable, at least in a novel, because a novel always has… — Daniel Kehlmann Copy Share
When I write a book I'm always questioning the project as a whole. I always feel I might have to just throw it away… — Daniel Kehlmann Copy Share
Also, whenever you have direct speech, and I don't quite know why, but it always gets better in English. Dialogue, the flow of dialogue,… — Daniel Kehlmann Copy Share
One of the points where the art world is at its most metaphysical is in this weird aspect of the power of the expert.… — Daniel Kehlmann Copy Share
Usually I work out the plot before I start. This time I thought: Writers always talk about not knowing where a book is going… — Daniel Kehlmann Copy Share
For a while I never show anybody what I'm writing, and during that time I need the feeling that publishing is only an option.… — Daniel Kehlmann Copy Share
German can take a lot more pathos than English can. When you say "pathetic" in English it's a disparaging term, but when you say… — Daniel Kehlmann Copy Share
English has a better way with colloquialisms. It has colloquialisms that are colorful and expressive but not too heavy or distracting. In German, if… — Daniel Kehlmann Copy Share
It's also one of these strange points where metaphysics converges with economy. Because really what the experts are doing is creating value by banishing… — Daniel Kehlmann Copy Share
Usually the German translators do something terrible, especially with Tom Wolfe, which is that they make it local. So if the characters are from… — Daniel Kehlmann Copy Share
