--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Once I looked into it, I was taken aback…" description: "\"Once I looked into it, I was taken aback to learn that pretty much nothing by João Gilberto Noll was available in English translation. I was confident ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec5/adam-morris-29730_adore_once-i-looked-into-it-i-was-taken-aback_258380.jpg" --- # Once I looked into it, I was taken aback to learn that… ![“Once I looked into it, I was taken aback to learn that pretty much nothing by João Gilberto Noll was available in English translation. I was confident that I could find an editor and the readership for a translation: Noll is highly respected in Brazil, and at the same time divisive, somewhat like…” quote by Adam Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec5/adam-morris-29730_adore_once-i-looked-into-it-i-was-taken-aback_258380.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec5/adam-morris-29730_adore_once-i-looked-into-it-i-was-taken-aback_258380.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec5/adam-morris-29730_adore_once-i-looked-into-it-i-was-taken-aback_258380.jpg) > “Once I looked into it, I was taken aback to learn that pretty much nothing by João Gilberto Noll was available in English translation. I was confident that I could find an editor and the readership for a translation: Noll is highly respected in Brazil, and at the same time divisive, somewhat like Hilda Hilst. Neither of them enjoys the universal acclaim you might associate with Clarice Lispector, whom everyone adores, myself included. Still, I considered it a tremendous injustice that Noll had not been more widely translated and was determined to rectify it.” [Adam Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-morris/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author feels a moral duty to bring an under‑translated Brazilian writer to English readers, seeing translation as cultural justice. **In simple terms:** Translate to give voice to overlooked writers. Key Takeaway Advocate for literary diversity. Themes justice translation cultural equity Mood determined frustrated Type advocacy introspective When to use this quote - publishing - academic research - literary festivals Key Concepts postcolonial theory literary canon Questions to Reflect On - Why does this writer matter to you? - What obstacles exist in literary translation? A Different Perspective Translation may not guarantee readership or financial success. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Determined](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/determined/) [Injustice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/injustice/) [Translation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/translation/) [Translations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/translations/) ## Related quotes > [“Entire sections of them simply cannot be translated - the characters are legible and well-known, but when put together they do not say anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-stephenson/entire-sections-of-them-simply-cannot-be-translated-the-characters/) [Neal Stephenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-stephenson/) > [Alongside Han Kang, there's only one other author I've chosen to translate so far - Bae Suah. 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I remember because there were so many things in Hour…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-baume/i-remember-the-book-i-was-reading-hour-of-the-star-by-clarice/) [Sara Baume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-baume/) > [I would ask the people who were generous toward my own work. After class one day a poetry professor said to me, "Hey, there's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-d-agata/i-would-ask-the-people-who-were-generous-toward-my-own-work-after/) [John D'Agata](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-d-agata/) > [“When asked if he had a special feeling for books, critic-turned-filmmaker Francois Truffaut answered, "No. I love them and films equally, but how I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexis-krasilovsky/when-asked-if-he-had-a-special-feeling-for-books-critic-turned/) Alexis Krasilovsky > [I always read the Latin American writers. 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I translated the novel and still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-morris/dreamlike-sequencing-is-perhaps-one-of-jo-o-gilberto-noll-s-most/) [Adam Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-morris/) > [Unless you count the political backdrop, which in any case is a familiar one to many international readers, I don't think there's anything that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-morris/unless-you-count-the-political-backdrop-which-in-any-case-is-a/) [Adam Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-morris/) > [The fiction I've written and published is certainly inflected by the work of authors I was reading or translating at the time. 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I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-morris/the-main-reason-i-decided-to-study-latin-american-literature-was/) [Adam Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-morris/) > [I have a few minor rules for myself but I break them all the time. For example, when translating from Romance languages to English,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-morris/i-have-a-few-minor-rules-for-myself-but-i-break-them-all-the-time-for/) [Adam Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-morris/) > [Jorge Luis Borges had the soapbox and the authority to complain about this myopic understanding of the duty of Latin American writers, which sometimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-morris/jorge-luis-borges-had-the-soapbox-and-the-authority-to-complain-about/) [Adam Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-morris/) > [The Brazilian national identity is not one of João Gilberto Noll primary concerns. 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But the question is, how do we live as women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/we-are-going-to-die-as-is-everyone-we-adore-i-hate-this-but-the/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [She's all I want and more I mean damn. What's not to adore?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nevershoutnever/she-s-all-i-want-and-more-i-mean-damn-what-s-not-to-adore/) Nevershoutnever > [She dotes on poetry, sir. She adores it; I may say that her whole soul and mind are wound up, and entwined with it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/she-dotes-on-poetry-sir-she-adores-it-i-may-say-that-her-whole-soul/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [I adore Chicago. It is the pulse of America.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-bernhardt/i-adore-chicago-it-is-the-pulse-of-america/) [Sarah Bernhardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-bernhardt/) > [It isn't called TV money for nothing. 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I meet fantastic writers, I meet architects,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-ghesquiere/i-love-what-i-do-and-i-adore-this-whole-world-i-m-able-to-meet/) [Nicolas Ghesquiere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-ghesquiere/) Browse all 749 Adore quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Once I looked into it, I was taken aback to learn that pretty much nothing by João Gilberto Noll was available in English translation. I was confident that I could find an editor and the readership for a translation: Noll is highly respected in Brazil, and at the same time divisive, somewhat like Hilda Hilst. Neither of them enjoys the universal acclaim you might associate with Clarice Lispector, whom everyone adores, myself included. 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