The PEN Ten is PEN America’s biweekly interview series curated by Lauren Cerand. This week, Lauren talks with Michael F. Moore, the chair of the PEN/Heim Translation Fund and an interpreter/translator from Italian. He has interpreted for popes, presidents, but no crowned heads. He puts his versatility on display this month with the publication of two translations, the wildly funny contemporary novel Live Bait by Fabio Genovesi (Other Press) and the moody masterpiece of sexual awakening, Agostino by Alberto Moravia (NYRB Classics).

When did being a translator begin to inform your sense of purpose?

More like my sense of survival! I lived in Italy for eight years, on my own, enrolled at the Brera Fine Arts Academy in Milan. Already shy in English, I worried that every time I opened my mouth the whole world would burst into laughter. Ordering at a restaurant was a harrowing experience. When I did summon the courage to speak, I had no idea what I was ordering, and quickly learned the names of things I didn’t like: fegato (liver), animelle (sweetbreads), insalata russa (don’t ask).

Once I’d found my footing, I started to help my fellow international students, interpreting for them at the oral exams given at the close of the school year. “Say anything,” I instructed them, “and I’ll make it sound good in Italian.” One professor caught on and asked, “How can her four words in English become your forty in Italian?” “English is very concise,” I replied, concisely. More.

See: The Huffington Post

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