Translation is an art as taxing as any of the fine arts practiced by humankind. The translator is caught between the need to render the original in a readable and polished version of the target language and the obligation not to depart too far from the original, which might have fine nuances not easily transferred from one language to another. The problem is so well known that generations of students have given their years to studying languages so as not to lose those drops of the original distillation that are inevitably spilled in the process of transfer. The translator cannot retreat from...