Credit for the Translator

I just got a copy of Friedebert Tuglas’s The Poet and the Idiot and Other Stories in the mail from Central European University Press.

Which isn’t news, or at all interesting. But what struck me in looking at this book was the fact that the name of the translator—Eric Dickens, who recommended this book to me—can only be found on the title page . . .

There are differing schools of thought on the “credit for the translator” issue. PEN and Hannah at Literary Rapture believe that the translator’s name should be prominent and easy to find. (I agree. Translating is an art, and these people—generally underpaid and underappreciated—deserve some props.)

Others believe that the book should be treated like any other book. That it doesn’t matter if it was translated or not, and that by bringing attention to the fact that it was, the sales level may go down, thus hurting both the author and the translator.

Which sounds better coming from someone like Knopf or Penguin, but Central European University Press? Who are they fooling? Do they think readers will just assume that Tuglas writes in English? C’mon CEUP—we’re all onto you.