Translator Will Vanderhyden presents 'Melvill' by Rodrigo Fresán

Third Place Books is delighted to welcome translator Will Vanderhyden for a discussion of his translation of Rodrigo Fresán's novel , published by Open Letter Books. Vanderhyden is also known for translating Fresán's monumetnal "Part Trilogy" into English (The Invented Part, The Dreamed Part, The Remembered Part). This event is free and open to the public.

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A dying father in the grip of fever and delirium recounts his youth, his Grand Tour, the Venetian palaces populated by fascinating and evil figures, his ruin, and his most beautiful journey—the crossing on foot of the frozen Hudson River. His son, still a child, sits at the foot of the bed, attentively collecting these final, hallucinated words.

Could the work of Herman Melville—masterful author, misunderstood, far too ahead of his time, and considered crazy and dangerous by some critics—have as its source this ultimate paternal legacy?

Questioning the intricacies of fiction, which constantly oscillatates between reality and imagination, Rodrigo Fresán’s approaches the enigma of the literary vocation in a new light. An invented biography, a gothic novel populated by ghosts, and an evocation of a filial love, Melvill contains all the talent, humor, and immense culture found in the other great works from one of Spanish literature's most ambitious writers.

Will Vanderhyden is a translator of Spanish-language literature. He has translated work by Carlos Labbé, Rodrigo Fresán, Fernanda García Lao, Dainerys Machado Vento, Andrés Felipe Solano, Laura Fernández, Rodolfo Enrique Fogwill, and Juan Villoro among others. His translations have appeared in journals like Granta, The Paris Review, Two Lines, The Arkansas International, Future Tense, and Southwest Review. He has received translation fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (2016 and 2023) and a residency fellowship from Lannan Foundation (2015). His translation of The Invented Part by Rodrigo Fresán won the 2018 Best Translated Book Award.

Founded in 1998 in Lake Forest Park, Washington, Third Place Books is dedicated to the creation of a community around books and the ideas inside them. With locations in Lake Forest Park and Seattle's Ravenna and Seward Park neighborhoods, Third Place Books is proud to serve the entire Seattle metro area. Learn more about their event series at thirdplacebooks.com/events.

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