Like the gray men, Nothing is a sickness-something like a disease born of lies and ambition. The way the gray men infiltrate Momo’s world of stories is reminiscent of the way Nothing infects Fantastica, the world of fantasy and dreams in The Neverending Story. He knows exactly when to bide his time, delay, build tension, repeat certain scenes, and return to past locations in order to generate pathos and narrative drive. I also think they’ll recognize Ende’s style of storytelling. They’ll recognize the call for imaginative thinking in their everyday lives. I think fans of The Neverending Story will recognize that in Momo as well. LZ: Both books revolve around the triumph of imaginative power in worlds that have little time for the imagination. Do the stories have anything in common? What do you think fans of The Neverending Story will think of Momo? I sent it to McSweeney’s, and Brian McMullen, the director of the McSweeney’s children’s imprint, picked it up.ĪA: American readers may not initially recognize Michael Ende’s name, but many would recognize him through his most popular novel, The Neverending Story. So I spent a summer working on a first draft of a new version. I didn’t have any hope of getting it published, I just knew I wanted to do it.

The book had been out of print in the United States for a long time, so there was room for a new English translation. LZ: The translator Peter Cole once told me that almost all of a translator’s early work grows out of disappointment with existing translations, and that’s pretty much what happened to me. When I was a little older I read Momo on my own, and I kept rereading it throughout my childhood.ĪA: You decided to dedicate a huge amount of time to translating this story from German to English. That effort included other books by Michael Ende Krabat by Otfried Preussler and many nights spent listening to German cassettes while I fell asleep. The book was part of his larger effort to make sure I really learned to pronounce German early on.

Lucas Zwirner: My father first read Momo to me as a little boy. Amanda Arnold: How were you introduced to Momo?

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