New Voices in Self-Translation: Lana Bastašić (Serbo-Croatian->English)

The first author featured in the new series "New Voices in Self-Translation" is Serbian writer Lana Bastašić (see blog entry on October 23, 2021). The English self-translation of her debut novel Catch the Rabbit was published in 2021 with Picador (UK) and Restless Books (US). The self-translation is visible to the reader as the title page of the Picador version states "Translated by the author". We are thus dealing with a case of a transparent self-translation (for the distinction between opac and transparent self-translation see Dasilva 2011).
Lana Bastašić  wrote Uhvati zeca (Kontrast 2018) while living in Barcelona, Spain. She can thus be considered a migrant self-translator, but unlike most migrant self-translators she does not use Catalan or Spanish, the language of her current residence, for self-translation. Bastašić explains, that she had to translate the manuscript into English in order order to approach agents and publishers, "I was a Bosnian living in Barcelona. No one spoke my language." (Behnke 2021). She thus translated the manuscript for mere practical reasons - not thinking about a possible publication of the English version: 

"When I set out to translate the novel, I never thought my translation would be published. I simply needed a readable draft to show to an agent, so that he or she would know what the book was about. Later, I had to rework the text and improve it because the UK publisher wanted my original translation." (Kalaba 2021)

The self-translation process proved to be complex. While translating, Bastašić identified weaknesses in the original and thus began to edit the new edition of the original version as well: “If I don’t want to bother translating this sentence, then it shouldn’t be in the book." (Behnke 2021). The English self-translation  helped her improve the text, find an agent and get translated into several languages: "That’s how in the end I got an agent, and that’s how I got all these translation deals. Otherwise, I think maybe it wouldn’t have happened." (Listi 2021)  However, she would still prefer to be translated by a professional translator: "Of course, I still believe it is better to have someone else translate your work. There is a distance and you feel more responsible. But unfortunately, if your language is considered “small,” that is highly unlikely to happen". (Behnke 2021)

Thanks to her initial self-translation into English, the novel gained visibility on the international market and attracted the interest of publishers around the globe. The novel Uhvati zeca (Buybook 2018) was awarded the 2020 European Union Prize for Literature and is now available in many languages:

• Catalan: Atrapa la llebre (Edicions del Periscopi / Navona) Translator: Pau Sanchis Ferrer, 2018.
• Dutch: Vang de Haas (Meulenhof). Translator: Pavle Trkulja, 2021. Translated from the Serbo-Croatian.
  
• French: Attrapez le lapin (Actes Sud, Éditions Gaïa). Translator: Aleksandar Grujičić in collaboration with Isabelle Liber, 2022. Translated from the Serbo-Croatian.
• German: Fang den Hasen (Fischer Verlag). Translator: Rebekka Zeinzinger, March 2021. Translated from the Bosnian.
• Hungarian: Kapd el a nyulat! (Metropolis). Translator: Emese Rajsli, 2020
• Italian: Afferra il coniglio (Nutrimenti edizioni). Translator: Elisa Copetti. Translated from the Serbo-Croatian. 2020
  
• Russian: Поймать зайца (Eksmo). Translator: Larisa Savelieva, 2021
• Slovenian: Ujemi zajca (Sanje). Translator: Dijana Matkovič, 2021
• Spanish: Atrapa a la liebre (Navona). Translator: Pau Sanchis Ferrer, 2020
• Turkish: Tavşanı Yakala (Ilksatir). Translator: Gökce Cicek, 2020

Translation rights have also been sold to  Perseus (Bulgaria), Artconnect (Macedonia), Dituria (Albania). Bastašić, who was born in Croatia and grew up in Bosnia, lives today in Serbia after spending several years in Barcelona. She explains that publishers have difficulties locating her: 

“Now some translations have come out, some say ‘translated from the Serbo-Croatian,’ some say ‘translated from Bosnian,’ some say ‘from Serbian.’ Then this article came out in Switzerland, where I was a Croatian writer,” she laughs, “I love it." (Petrick 2021)

Translation rights are handled by Salmaia Literary Agency on behalf of Edicions del Periscopi.

Sources:
Behnke. Emily. 2021. "An Indies Introduce Q&A With Lana Bastašić".  Published on May 20, 2021 on: https://www.bookweb.org/news/indies-introduce-qa-lana-bastašić-1625833 

Kalaba, Jovanka. 2021. "Lana Bastašić Still Believes in Beauty". Published on August 19, 2021 https://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2021/08/19/lana-bastasic-still-believes-in-beauty/

Listi, Bradi. 2021. "“It’s Not Something I Would Recommend.” Lana Bastašić on Translating Her Own Book In Conversation with Brad Listi on Otherppl". Podcast "Otherppl", June 16, 2021, published on: https://lithub.com/its-not-something-i-would-recommend-lana-bastasic-on-translating-her-own-book/

Petrick Daniel. 2021. "In her novel Catch the Rabbit, Lana Bastašić explores who tells the story of Yugoslavia’s ethnic conflict". Calvit Journal. Published on June 17, 2021 on: https://www.calvertjournal.com/articles/show/12868/novel-catch-the-rabbit-lana-bastashi-90s-yugoslav-war 

Cited research literature:
Dasilva, Xosé Manuel (2011): "La autotraducción transparente y la autotraducción opaca". In: Xosé Manuel Dasilva & HelenaTanqueiro (eds.), Aproximaciones a la autotraducción. Vigo: Editorial Academia del Hispanismo, 45–68.