Helen Lane, 83; Translated Latin Americans’ Books

Helen Lane, 83, a leading translator of the works of major Latin American writers, died Sunday in Albuquerque of complications from a stroke.

Lane translated primarily from French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, but she was fluent in seven languages. She translated Mario Varga Llosa’s memoir “A Fish in the Water,” Octavio Paz’s “Essays on Mexican Art” and Elena Poniatowka’s “Massacre in Mexico.”

She also provided subtitles for films, including “Weekend” by Jean-Luc Godard and “Brazil: A Report on Torture” by Haskell Wexler and Saul Landeau.

Lane was a native of Minneapolis. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UCLA, and did postgraduate work at UCLA and at the University of Paris. She worked in Los Angeles in the 1940s as a translator and editor for the United States Civil Service. She later taught languages at UCLA, New York University and Goucher College.