You'd think -- indeed, I suspect most readers are convinced of it -- that there's simply no reason for this to happen any longer -- and yet it does. Yes, there are still books being published in English translation that are not being translated directly from the language they were written in, but rather via a translation from another language.
       A recent example, pointed out to me by a reader, is Agata Tuszyńska's memoir, Family History of Fear, just out from Alfred A. Knopf (an outfit which you'd think would know better; surely Blanche would blanch ...); see their publicity page -- which, you'll note doesn't so much as mention any sort of translator involvement (other than that Tuszyńska "is the author of six collections of internationally translated poetry" ,,,), or get your copy at Amazon.com.
       At Amazon you can 'Look inside' -- and get a look at that shocking copyright-page, where they admit, in small print: "This translation is based on the French edition", and that the book is: "Translated by Charles Ruas from the French of Jean-Yves Erhel". (Adding further insult to all this injury, Ruas didn't even get the translation copyright -- Knopf took care of that too.)
       Yes, occasionally translation via other translations is justified -- and, indeed, many translations from 'smaller' languages into other smaller ones often happen via the English translation -- but this instance looks pretty dubious (to put it politely) to me. Polish is not exactly an obscure language, and there are several first-rate translators(-directly)-from-the-Polish out there (Antonia Lloyd-Jones and Bill Johnston, for a start), and it's hard to imagine as much is gained via the French translation -- no matter how masterful Jean-Yves Erhel's work is -- as is lost by the two-fold translation process.

       Of course, maybe the explanation is that Americans have become such translation-enthusiasts that they think the more translations a book has been through the better ..... Read the rest of this post