translation and intent

Bill responds to my fixation on the use of the word hymenoptera in Gombrowicz's "The Events on the Banbury":

The whole hymenoptera issue would have completely evaded my attention if you had not mentioned it. Yet another example of things I don't know anything about. The larger question on whether or not editors, translators, or writers do most of the fucking up is an interesting one. For myself, if I like an author, I ususally blame the translator (unless of course I like the translator, in which case I blame the
editor...). If I don't care, I assume the author is at fault. This particular case is an interesting one...

Say Gombrowicz DID get the name wrong. The translator is of course obliged to translate the text in front of him. An editor gets it and catches the error (unlikely as that is). Does he change it? Is he obligated? Is he allowed? Suppose Gombrowicz made the "error" on purpose. Suppose it was designed to be a way to lead the attentive and intelligent reader astray. Suppose it is just nonsense. How can
you tell (especially in this case where an author is dead)? As an editor, what do you do?

That original post was excerpted from an email, as is Bill's reply.

Bacacay and hymenoptera

Part of the reason why i'm having trouble finishing a book now is because i'm stuck on finishing Witold Gombrowicz's Bacacay. It's not an inaccessible book. Kat picked it up on the drive back from Austin, reading the first story quickly, and has been intrigued ever since. (She's waiting for me to finish before she dives into it, although i'm urging her to try other authors first.) There are some great stories, and even better ideas in there, but i keep finding them overlong, and become impatient with his lack of immediacy. Obviously, i have no problem with long books, but i don't like like short stories to be overly ornate. Bacacay is a good read, but i doubt whether i'll engage him in a full novel.

It seems that the translator is doesn't know his entomology. A scorpion is not a member of hymenoptera. It's done in the story "The Events on the Banbury.” Hymenoptera is the order for ants, wasps, and bees.... all insects. A scorpion is an archanid, more closely related to spiders. They actually belong to a different subphylum altogether, Chelicerata, while insects are in Hexapoda..... distant cousins evolutionarily. Eh, it's just taxonomy, right?

But why is hymenoptera used? Probably it's because both wasps and scorpions sting. Why is this important to me? Because it makes me suspect that the translator is possibly being purple or lazy. It makes me doubt everything that Gombrowicz has written. Did Gombrowicz, the narrator or the translator use the word hymenoptera? What other words am i missing the significance of or interpreting too much into?

Please remember that i'm a college dropout who majored in biology, and am no expert in either literature or entomology. This obsession over one word is petty and obsessive. Nonetheless, that one word choice has me in a doubting frenzy now.

(Shit. Was it actually the word hymenoteran that was used? The book's not handy to reference at the moment.)