You are BRILLIANT. This is so insightful and poignant and definitely adds a necessary point of view and context to the current boom around translated lit.

I’ve loved getting to know every side of translated lit possible, which more often than not is lyrical, beautiful, eye opening and boundary pushing. The “weird” ones definitely hold a place in my heart (as does weird Anglophone lit) but I love discovering every facet and it has opened my eyes to genres I wouldn’t usually lean towards such as historical fiction which I have become such a fan of when it comes from translated reads.

I used to travel to expand my world view, but as my body has become less able, reading from translations has become my new way of travelling and discovering the world and the voices I wouldn’t usually hear from.