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The Woman with the 5 Elephants

A film by Vadim Jendreyko

Synopsis

Swetlana Geier is considered the greatest translator of Russian literature into German. Her  translations of Dostoyevsky’s five great novels, known as the "five elephants", are her life’s work and literary mile-stones. Her work is characterized by a great and sensual feeling for language and uncompromising respect for the writers she translated. The film interweaves the story of Swetlana Geier’s life with her literary work and traces the secret of this inexhaustible mediator of language. It tells of great suffering, silent helpers and unhoped-for chances - and a love of language that outshines all else.

«The concept of transportation is not an adequate metaphor for translation. It is not transportation, since the luggage never arrives.»
Svetlana Geier

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