Agnieszka Solska

Agnieszka Solska’s Sunzi’s Art of War: A Klingon Translation (Sun pIn’a veS mIw) further expands the Klingon Language Institute’s translation of works beyond those of Shakespeare that elaborated on the Klingon characters’ Shakespearean references in Nicholas Meyer’s 1991 film, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. This project builds upon the translation projects of Nick Nicholas, who translated Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing, Roger Cheesbro’s translation of Gilgamesh, and Solska’s own Tao Te Ching: A Klingon Translation. Solska begins with an extensive history of The Art of War in China and throughout Asia, tracing its introduction to the West and Western translations. As a framing device, she writes in the introduction that the work was one that Klingon scholars specifically translated from Terran sources rather than one the Klingons claim to have originated (unlike Wil’yam Shex’pir’s works). Throughout, Solska includes copious notes on her translation and how Klingon, despite being a conlang, facilitates a more accurate translation from the original Chinese than English in some places. This translation came after Keith R.A. DeCandido’s 2014 work, The Klingon Art of War: Ancient Principles of Ruthless Honor, which DeCandido positioned more as an in-universe text like Marc Okrand’s Klingon for the Galactic Traveler or Ira Steven Behr’s The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition rather than a direct translation of Sun Tzu’s 5th Century text. Though one should not judge a book by its cover, Frank Wu’s cover art featuring stylized D7 or K’t’inga class battlecruisers is as lovely as his cover for Solska’s previous translation.… (más)