Peter Constantine (born 1963) is a British and American literary translator who has translated literary works from German, Russian, French, Modern Greek, Ancient Greek, Italian, Albanian, Dutch, and Slovene.
Peter Constantine
Peter Constantine, 2009
Born
1963 London
Occupation
Translator, writer
Nationality
British, American
Genre
Translation
Biographyedit
Constantine was born in London to an Austrian mother and a British father of Turkish and Greek descent. He grew up in Athens, Greece before moving to the United States in 1983. In his first books, Japanese Street Slang and Japanese Slang: Uncensored he explored Japanese slang and criminal jargons in their many varieties, focusing on aspects of the Japanese language that had been traditionally marginalised. "Previously unprintable things that will inform, amuse, shock and maybe even disgust" (Joseph LaPenta: Daily Yomiuri, 6 December 1992).
In the early 1990s, Constantine began translating short stories and poetry from various European languages, publishing in literary magazines in the United States, Britain, and Australia. Since the publication of his first book-length translation, Thomas Mann: Six Early Stories, he has worked almost exclusively as a literary translator.
Contemporary Authors quotes Constantine: "I have always been interested in language in all its aspects. Working with master linguists such as Thomas Mann, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, and Babel has been particularly rewarding for me, since these writers push language to an extreme, and the translator has to vigorously mold the translation in order to try to recreate their effects."[1]
Deichmann, Hans; Constantine, Peter (with Peter Glassgold) (1997). Objects: A Chronicle of Subversion in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. New York: Marsilio Publishing. ISBN 1-56886-048-X.
Mann, Thomas; Constantine, Peter (1997). Six Early Stories. Los Angeles: Sun and Moon Press. ISBN 1-55713-298-4.
Grass, Gunter; Constantine, Peter (1997). For Yasar Kemal. foreword by Vanessa Redgrave. London: International Artists Against Racism. ISBN 0-9532451-0-1.
Chekhov, Anton; Constantine, Peter (1998). The Undiscovered Chekhov: Thirty-Eight New Stories (Hard Cover). New York: Seven Stories Press. ISBN 1-888363-76-2.
Küstenmacher, Werner; Constantine, Peter (1999). Frommer's Moon: A Guide For First-Time Visitors 1999. London: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-02-862869-1.
Ismail, Kadare; Constantine, Peter (2000). Three Elegies for Kosovo. London: Harvill Press. ISBN 1-86046-707-5.
Heinrich Blücher, Hannah Arendt; Constantine, Peter (2000). Within Four Walls: The Correspondence between Hannah Arendt and Heinrich Blücher, 1936–1968. New York: Harcourt. ISBN 0-15-100303-3.
Chekhov, Anton; Constantine, Peter (2001). The Undiscovered Chekhov: Fifty-One New Stories. London: Duck Editions. ISBN 0-7156-3106-3.
Babel, Isaac; Constantine, Peter (2002). The Complete Works of Isaac Babel. edited by Nathalie Babel. Foreword by Cynthia Ozick. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-04846-2.
Svit, Brina; Constantine, Peter (2002). Con Brio. London: Harvill Press. ISBN 1-86046-857-8.
Babel, Isaac; Constantine, Peter (2002). The Collected Stories. edited by Nathalie Babel. Foreword by Cynthia Ozick. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-32402-8.
Babel, Isaac; Constantine, Peter (2003). The Red Cavalry Stories. edited by Nathalie Babel. Foreword by Michael Dirda. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-32423-0.
Morrisseau-Leroy, Felix; Constantine, Peter (2003). Three Haitian Creole Tales. Los Angeles: Green Integer Press. ISBN 1-931243-22-0.
Voltaire; Constantine, Peter (2005). Candide. New York: Random House Modern Library. ISBN 0-679-64313-3.
Svit, Brina; Constantine, Peter (2005). Death of a Prima Donna. London: Harvill Press. ISBN 1-84343-045-2.
Lebert, Benjamin; Constantine, Peter (2006). The Bird is a Raven. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 1-4000-4284-4.
Schlink, Bernhard; Constantine, Peter (2007). Self's Deception. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-375-70908-1.
Machiavelli, Niccolò; Constantine, Peter (2007). The Essential Writings of Machiavelli. New York: Random House Modern Library. ISBN 978-0-679-64313-5.
Sophocles; Constantine, Peter (2007). Three Theban Plays. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics Collection. ISBN 978-1-59308-235-2.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques; Constantine, Peter (2013). The Essential Writings of Rousseau. New York: Random House Modern Library. ISBN 978-0812980387.
Authoredit
Constantine, Peter (1992). Japanese Street Slang. foreword by James D. McCawley. New York: Tengu Books. ISBN 0-8348-0250-3.
Constantine, Peter (1993). Japan's Sex Trade: A Journey Through Japan's Erotic Subcultures. Tokyo: Yen Books. ISBN 4-900737-00-3.
Constantine, Peter (1994). Japanese Slang: Uncensored. Tokyo: Yen Books. ISBN 4-900737-03-8.
Constantine, Peter (1994). Making Out in Indonesian. Tokyo: Yen Books. ISBN 4-900737-02-X.
Constantine, Peter (1995). Making Out in Korean. Tokyo: Yen Books. ISBN 4-900737-33-X.
Constantine, Peter (1998). Making Out in Vietnamese. Hong Kong: Periplus Editions. ISBN 4-900737-48-8.
Constantine, Peter (1998). A Sucht B. Bern: Scherz Verlag. ISBN 3-502-12130-3.
Constantine, Peter (2011). Japanese Street Slang (Completely Revised and Updated). foreword by James D. McCawley. New York: Weatherhill. ISBN 978-1-59030-848-6.
Edited with Bien, Peter, Edmund Keeley, Karen Van Dyck (2004). A Century of Greek Poetry: 1900–2000. New Jersey: Kosmos Publishing. ISBN 1-932455-00-0. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Edited with Bradford Morrow, and William Weaver (2002). Conjunctions: 38, Rejoicing Revoicing. New York: Bard College. ISBN 978-0-941964-54-8. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)
Edited with Bradford Morrow (2001). Conjunctions: 31, Radical Shadows. New York: Bard College. ISBN 0-941964-47-7. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)
The Caribbean Writer, Volume 12, 1998. Special Section: Poems by Celie Diaquoi Deslandes, edited and translated by Peter Constantine from the French.
The Caribbean Writer, Volume 10, 1996. Special Section: Surinamese short fiction by Paul Bandel, Hélène Ramjiawan, Anne Zeggen en Monique Pool. Edited and translated by Peter Constantine from the Dutch.