“Language is only a tool…” An interview with the writer Jaroslav Melnik on his work and his self-translations

Abstract

Jaroslav Melnik (Jaroslavas Melnikas in Lithuanian and Yaroslav Melnyk / Ярослав Мельник in Ukrainian) is a surrealist science-fiction writer based in Vilnius whose work spans several linguistic and cultural spaces. Born in western Ukraine, he graduated from the University of Lviv and pursued doctoral studies at the Maxim Gorky Institute of Literature in Moscow. He writes in Lithuanian, Ukrainian, and Russian, while his books have been translated into numerous languages and have received several international distinctions. Conducted in autumn 2025, this interview focuses on his work as a self-translator and on the practical methods underlying this activity. Melnik explains that his works are always written completely in Lithuanian first and that self-translation begins only once a decision has been made to publish them abroad, sometimes several years later. Ukrainian and Russian, however, serve different purposes. Dissatisfied with an initial translation by another translator, Melnik began translating his works into Ukrainian himself, regarding these versions as “second originals”. His Russian versions, by contrast, arose from an editorial necessity: never published in Russian, they have served as intermediary texts enabling his novels to be translated and published in France when translators working directly from Lithuanian were unavailable. Melnik therefore regards the Lithuanian, Ukrainian, and Russian texts as “authorial versions” and rejects a strict hierarchy based on the distinction between original and translation. He also attaches little importance to emphasizing his multilingualism in published editions, arguing that language is merely a tool and that attention should remain focused on the work itself. The interview finally addresses allographic translations of his books into other languages. Melnik collaborates with translators by answering questions and helping to resolve terminological or interpretative problems, particularly in French. Self-translation thus emerges from the conversation as a fundamentally pragmatic practice, allowing the author to maintain control over his texts while facilitating their circulation across different literary and linguistic spaces.