Camilo A. Ramirez is shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize for his translation of Antonio Muñoz Molina’s Like a Fading Shadow.
Words Without Borders (WWB): What drew you to Antonio Muñoz Molina’s work?
Camilo A. Ramirez (CAR): Molina’s courage to experiment. His work takes you to the limits of fiction and deep into the act of writing.
WWB: What was unique about this translation compared to others you’d done?
CAR: The range of narrative voices. The manner in which James Earl Ray’s character is constructed out of countless details, impressions, habits, and fixations, while leaving a deep unknown at the core. The invitation to embody the last moments of someone’s life.
WWB: What are you reading now, or which writers from the language and literary tradition you translate do you think readers ought to pay attention to as potential future MBI winners?
CAR: I admire the work of Juan Gabriel Vásquez. It is powerful, original, and brave.
Read an interview with Antonio Muñoz Molina, author of Like a Fading Shadow
Read more interviews with finalists for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize
