Background
Harman, Mark was born on March 6, 1951.
English and foreign language educator
Harman, Mark was born on March 6, 1951.
Bachelor, University College, Dublin, 1972. Master of Arts, University College, Dublin, 1974. Master of Arts, Yale University, 1976.
Master of Philosophy in German, Yale University, 1977. Doctor of Philosophy in German, Yale University, 1980.
He has taught German and Irish literature at Dartmouth, Oberlin, Franklin & Marshall, and the University of Pennsylvania. He is editor and co-translator of Robert Walser Rediscovered: Stories, Fairy-Tale Plays, and Critical Responses (1985) and translator of Hermann Hesse, Soul of the Age (1991, edited by Theodore Ziolkowski). He is also a freelance translator for many newspapers and scholarly journals.
As a translator, Harman wrote, "Translation is a complex issue, and retranslation doubly so," referencing the double challenge to confront both the text in the original and in other translations.
Harman has characterized the current moment as a "great era for retranslation" to reexamine the versions through which generations of English-speakers have encountered important works from other tongues. A detailed discussion of his work with Kafka"s unfinished novel may be found at The Castle, Critical Edition, Harman Translation.
His translation of Kafka"s "Amerika: The Missing Person", more widely known as Amerika, was published in November 2008.