It’s been 30 years and more than a million printed copies since John Kennedy Toole’s “A Confederacy of Dunces” was published by LSU Press.To celebrate the book’s anniversary, the Press hosted a panel Tuesday on the book’s more than 50 translated editions and the various art the novel’s cover has carried.The novel has worn many titles through its translations. In Italian, it’s “Una Congrega Di Fissati,” while the Portuguese know it as “Uma Confraria De Tolos.” Considering how many different languages have interpreted the book, the panel discussed how successfully “A Confederacy of Dunces” can be translated into different languages while retaining its cultural significance.”How can you depict such a culturally specific novel to an audience unfamiliar with it?” asked Mary Katherine Callaway, director of LSU Press.Laura Gleason, design and production manager of LSU Press who was a student worker at the Press in 1979 when the book was originally designed, sat on the panel and discussed the design principles of several translated covers of “Dunces” and their relevance to the novel.The panel also featured Rod Parker, director of the LSU School of Art, who analyzed the covers from an artistic perspective. Parker said he measured the designs on the bases of creativity, conceptuality, relevance, uniqueness and durability.The final panelist was Betsy Wing, an award-winning translator who spoke specifically about the French translation.The panel focused on foreign publishers’ strategies to make the book’s cover visually appealing to non-American audiences.”We are a visual culture,” Callaway said. “You can’t judge a book by its cover, but people often do because that’s what draws you in.”The panel spotted a common theme among the cover designs — the presence of hot dogs, which the book’s protagonist sells in New Orleans’ French Quarter.”There is a fixation on the hot dog in the foreign editions,” Gleason said. A 1988 German edition features a picture of a pinball machine, which Gleason said was probably provoking symbolism.”It’s a metaphor for [the main character] Ignatius being a ball that hits all those jobs, bounces off and goes to other jobs,” Gleason said.Sam Oliver, Latin junior who attended the event, said he’s impressed by the success of foreign translations because of the book’s comedic tone.”It’s amazing anytime someone manages to translate humor across language,” Oliver said. Wing discussed the way translation is seen as a type of performance, representing the author’s original work in a way that resonates in a different language.”The readers in the language of origin are able to have a richer experience with the text, but that doesn’t mean the translation is without value,” Wing said.John Easterly, executive editor at LSU Press who proofread “Dunces” in 1979, attended the event and said one of the book’s accomplishments is the way its significance translates from language to language.”The New Orleans culture and American culture gets through to foreign cultures,” Easterly said.—-Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]