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You may think you’ve never read anything by Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter, but if you’ve read any Thomas Mann, there’s a good chance you’ve seen her handiwork. Lowe-Porter was a writer and translator whose greatest (but largely unsung) success came in the form of translating 22 monumental works by the German literary giant. Her English translations of Mann’s work proved pivotal in his being awarded the Nobel Prize in 1929. A new novel tells her hidden story, and its author, Jo Salas (who has family ties to the translator) joins us in this episode to discuss Lowe-Porter’s triumphs and tribulations.

Mentioned in this episode:

Mrs. Lowe-Porter by Jo Salas

Dancing with Diana by Jo Salas

Charlotte Endymion Porter

Poet Lore

Elias Lowe

Alfred and Blanche Knopf

Thomas Mann

Audible audiobook of Lowe-Porter’s translation of Buddenbrooks

Lowe-Porter’s translation of The Magic Mountain

Lowe-Porter’s translation of Death in Venice

Lowe-Porter’s tranlsation of Dr. Faustus

“Abdication Or, All is True” by Helen Lowe-Porter

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