The Living and the Dead Word

A classic work by Nora Gal on translation and editing, on the beauty of language, its precision and expressiveness.

First published in 1972, the book has become a staple for several generations of specialists working with texts. In it, the famous... Soviet translator Nora Gal demonstrates successful and unsuccessful examples of working with language, revealing the unjustified use of speech clichés, bureaucratic language, borrowings, and other typical mistakes made by translators and editors. Analyzing famous translations of works into individual fragments, she works with the flaws of the text with jeweler’s precision and outlines general principles of “living” and expressive words. At the core of these principles lies a careful attitude toward language and fidelity to the best examples of Russian speech.