'Seizing the surge of language by its soft, bare skull': simultaneous interpreting, the Truth Commission and 'Country of My Skull'

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Periodical article

Title:	'Seizing the surge of language by its soft, bare skull': simultaneous interpreting, the Truth Commission and 'Country of My Skull'
Author:	Wallmach, Kim
Year:	2002
Periodical:	Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa
Volume:	14
Issue:	2
Pages:	64-82
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	offences against human rights commissions of inquiry interpreters translation multilingualism
About person:	Anna Elizabeth Krog (1952-)
Abstract:	The gap between original and interpreted text remains largely uncharted, as does the gap between the actual practices and processes of interpreting and the ethical standards for the interpreting profession. In this article, the author explores these two interpretive interstices, drawing upon aspects of professional simultaneous interpreting practice exemplified by interpreters for South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Antjie Krog's portrayal of this Commission in her book, 'Country of My Skull' (1998). She argues that just as 'Country of My Skull' raises questions about the tensions between truth and non-truth in the process of forging a new national identity, so does the process of interpreting. Inherent in the process of interpreting is the power to manipulate truth(s), and just as we cannot but examine the effects of Krog's voice on the Commission, so we cannot erase the voice of the interpreter in the Commission. Bibliogr., notes, sum. [Journal abstract]