INTERVIEW | John Brownjohn on Walter Moers and Translation

Walter Moers' Zamonia novels are some of the most creative humorous Fantasy I have ever read. Yes, even better than some of Terry Pratchett's work. Moers is also one of the biggest authors in Germany, but in the English speaking world he has more of a cult following. To date there have been four Zamonia novels published with the fifth The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books coming out November 8th. I'd recommend on checking out the first book in the series, The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Blue Bear first or The City of Dreaming Books, not to be confused with the latest Labyrinth. Though all except Labyrinth standalone quite well

Today joining us is a very special guest. I'm use to interviewing authors and editors, but this is a first for me with translator John Brownjohn sitting in the hot seat.

Mad Hatter: You've translated many books of all genres (History, Biography, Fantasy) including the classic The Neverending Story. How did you get involved in translation?

John Brownjohn: In an age when translation has become an academic subject in its own right, I hesitate to admit this after translating the better part of 200 books from German and French, but I came into the trade quite fortuitously. I started life as a classicist and won an open classical scholarship to Oxford, then spent ten years in a commercial job in the City of London. Around halfway through those ten lucrative but uncongenial years, a cousin of mine who happened to be a director of the venerable publishing house of Jonathan Cape said to me, “You write decent English and have a knowledge of German and French, how about trying your hand at translating a book for us on the side?” The book was a juvenile novel for which I earned the princely sum of £70.00. I enjoyed the challenge, Jonathan Cape liked what I’d done, and one thing led to another until I was being offered so much translation work by several publishers that I chucked my City job and have devoted myself to the keyboard ever since. Incidental note: I didn’t translate Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story, though I did do his Momo.

MH: The internet led me astry yet again. How does the translation process work for you? Are you generally in contact with the author? Do you go through multiple drafts? Are you approached by publishers about translating or do you try to pitch them?

JBJ: It varies from author to author. I’m regularly in touch with Walter Moers, for example, but my only contact with the onetime bestselling author Hans Helmut Kirst, sixteen of whose novels I translated including Night of the Generals, was a brief letter from him thanking me for my efforts. (Dead authors can present a problem. I once caught one out in a bad bit of continuity. Being naturally unable to contact him, I corrected it on the assumption that he’d have been grateful!) No, I don’t make multiple drafts. I compose my translations as I go, then print out my drafts and give them a final polish before delivery. I have to read and correct everything in hard copy - can’t assess what I’ve done solely on the screen. As to sources of work, the first move always comes from my publishers. I’ve tried to pitch books but never succeeded.

MH: Were you aware of Walter Moers’s work before you were asked to translate The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Blue Bear?

JBJ: Yes, but only of his work as a cartoonist.

MH: The Zamonia books are quite wacky and strange. There are literally hundreds of made-up words, names, and anagrams galore. How did you handle it all?

JBJ: Producing English versions of Walter’s made-up names certainly taxes one’s ingenuity. Sometimes I have to diverge completely from the original German. Elsewhere I often draw on the remnants of my classical education and resort to Latinizing bits of them. For instance, the “Living Books” in German became the “Animatomes” in English. As for the anagrams, which are great fun to do, I took Walter’s advice and got out my old Scrabble set, which proved a great help!

MH: Did the illustrations ever come in handy while translating?

JBJ: Yes, they’ve often provided me with an insight into the author’s wealth of imagination.

MH: Will we ever see Moers' Hansel and Gretel novel in English? Also, do you know the status of the next Zamonia book given The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books ends on quite a cliffhanger note?

JBJ: Unfortunately, I don’t think his Hansel and Gretel book lends itself to translation into English. The sequel to The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books is already taking shape..

MH: Is there a book or series you'd love to see translate into English?

JBJ: No, I don’t have anything special in mind.

MH: Why do you think in other languages about half of the published books are translated from English, but the percentage of books translated into English is less than 10%?

JBJ: Sadly, if it’s a toss-up between two books of roughly equal merit, one of them written in English and the other in some foreign language, US and UK publishers will ten to go for the former. This is partly because translation fees represent a not inconsiderable part of the production costs, and it’s possible (I don’t know) that British and American translators are better paid than their European counterparts. I suspect there is also, even now, a hangover from the days when a lot of very poor translations appeared after World War II, often done by European expatriates whose command of idiomatic English was less than adequate. This created a prejudice against translated works in general. My own “philosophy” - though some would disagree - is that a translation should read as if it were an original. After all, readers who are continually brought up short by unidiomatic turns of phrase will soon lay a book aside in disgust.

MH: What projects are you translating at the moment? 

JBJ: I’m taking a few weeks off while awaiting the imminent arrival of another two new German novels by existing authors of mine, Alex Capus (Leon and Louise) and Alain Claude Sulzer (A Perfect Waiter).

MH: You're certainly keeping busy. Thank you for all your time. Is there anything you'd like to say to close us out?

JBJ: Yes, I’d like to thank all the US publishers and reviewers who never fail to mention the names and appreciate the efforts of those who render foreign literature accessible, i.e. translators. The same cannot, alas, be said of UK reviewers and literary editors, whose neglect of us is shameful.

MH: Thanks for making it possible to read so many foreign works.

You can catch-up with the whole Walter Moers Blog Tour at these fine establishments:
Thursday, Nov 1 - Introduction to the Blog Tour - BookSexy Review
Friday, Nov 2 - Dark Wolf's Fantasy Reviews will post an Overview/Presentation of Moers’ Books
Saturday, Nov 3 - TNBBC will post a review of The City of Dreaming Books
Sunday, Nov 4 - BookSexy Review will post a Travel/Tour Guide to Bookholm
Monday, Nov 5 - SJ @ Book Snobbery will post a fan letter to Optimus Yarnspinner
Tuesday, Nov 6 - Anastasia at Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog will post a review of The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books
Thursday, Nov 8 - Theresa will pot the giveaway at the Winged Elephant blog (Overlook's Blog)

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REVIEW | The Alchemaster's Apprentice (Zamonia) by Walter Moers (Overlook)

There are few authors who get me as excited about a new release as Moers since his The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Blue Bear is probably my favorite comic Fantasy of the last decade. A new Walter Moers book means I put aside whatever I am doing and start reading with a profuse amount of breaks for laughter. I'm always amazed by how good the translations by John Brownjohn are for these books as Moers is known for creating words and tweaking many others to his twisted pen. Accompanied by dozens of illustrations by Moers The Alchemaster's Apprentice is the fourth Zamonia novel after The City of Dreaming Books ,which keeps to the same high quality as previous books.

The series to this point has been far sweeping stories that explore the lost continent whether it be across the land or under it, however the latest entrant breaks from that mold as it stays in the just one place, which is the unhealthiest city in Zamonia, Malaisea, where the resident Alchemaster Ghoolian reigns over the sickly populace. The Alchemaster's Apprentice is the most intimate and shortest tale to date, but is no less entertaining for its brevity.

As with all Moers books it centers on one character's life story, in this case Echo the Crat. A Crat looks like a cat but has the special ability of being able to speak to any creature and retain any knowledge told. We meet Echo as he is starving on the streets of Malaisea since his former owner passed away. Ghoolian comes across the begging Echo and strikes a bargain to feed him for a month with the most sumptuous food from all over Zamonia. At the end of the month the Crat will give up his life in order for his fat to be rendered for the Alchemaster to use in his experiments. At the time it seems like a good bargain for the slowly expiring Crat, but he quickly changes his mind.

In one sense The Alchemaster's Apprentice is still a tour Zamonia only it focuses on the culinary and magical sides of the world, which Ghoolian has been amassing for decades in his home. Ghoolian houses Echo in his ancient castle that holds as many wonders as the rest of Zamonia, many of which can no longer be found elsewhere. This is not the bloodiest Zamonia tale, which was Rumo, but it is the most morbid of the lot as Ghoolian likes to perform taxidermy of myriad creatures and he is all about boiling creatures down to balls of fat along with having a deep disdain for most living creatures.


Moers plays with the Ghoolian character trying to give him many sides to his dark face to keep Echo guessing what is truly inside him which works fairly well and leads to some good surprises towards the end. Echo explores the castle as well as the town where we get to meet a marvelous yet small supporting cast of odd creatures including a friendly ghost, a lonely toad, and a great Uggly Witch. I don't say Uggly to deride the character's looks, which while atrocious is actually her species name.

The Alchemaster's Apprentice is a dark fairy tale for adults that keeps you laughing even through the most gruesome of parts. The ending was a bit expected, but the journey to get there what the fun is all about. I give The Alchemaster's Apprentice 9 out of 10 Hats. I'd recommend reading at least The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Blue Bear before this one; although all the Zamonia books are written as standalones with no main character reappearing yet having read previous volumes does help with knowing many of the references to different places and species.

I'm curious as to whether Overlook will be translating Moers's Hansel & Gretel/Zamonia tale since that is the only book that hasn't had an English release, yet it came prior to The Alchemaster's Apprentice in German. Moers shows that he is in nowhere near running out of stories for Zamonia and nor should he. I for one hope he can turn out as many novels as Pratchett has done with Discworld.

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