Three Percent Podcast #201: Suzanne Jill Levine's "Unfaithful"

Three Percent Podcast #201: Suzanne Jill Levine's "Unfaithful"

From Three Percent Podcast by Open Letter Books

August 18, 2025 · 54 min

About this episode

Chad interviews Suzanne Jill Levine about her memoir and experiences as a translator during 'The Boom'.

In our ongoing celebration of Women in Translation Month, Chad talked to Suzanne Jill Levine about Unfaithful: A Translator’s Memoir , recently released by Bloomsbury Academic. They discuss her life as a translator who was there during “The Boom” and her work with Manuel Puig (who deserves another rediscovery), Adolfo Bioy Casares (Chad relates his Lost story about The Invention of Morel ), Severo Sarduy ( Cobra is now available as a Dalkey Essential), G. Cabrera Infante, Emir Rodríguez Monegal, intimacy and translation, and more. This episode’s music is “Lightning” by Arcade Fire, a problematic band for sure, but, given the storm that disrupted this recording, a song that sort of fits. (And isn’t Imagine Dragons.) Also, for the month of August, all Open Letter books either written or translated by women are on sale for 40% off to celebrate Women in Translation Month. Shop the whole collection here ! You can subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast at Apple , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find the Mining the Dalkey Archive podcast at Apple , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts, and watch us on YouTube . And be sure to follow our sister podcasts…

People in this episode

Host: Chad

Guest: Suzanne Jill Levine

Topics covered

  • translation
  • women in translation
  • literature
  • memoir
  • interview

Keywords

  • translation
  • memoir
  • women in translation
  • literature
  • Suzanne Jill Levine

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bloomsbury Academic, Open Letter, Arcade Fire

Books & works: Unfaithful: A Translator’s Memoir, The Invention of Morel, Cobra

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