This will be a workshop in translation accompanied by weekly readings in translation theory, from St. Jerome to Walter Benjamin, George Steiner and beyond. Most will be taken from Laurence Venuti’s anthology, The Translation Studies Reader, 4th edition (2021). The course is open to all literarily oriented graduate students with competence in one of the following: Italian, French, Spanish, German, or Turkish. We will spend part of each class assessing a key essay in translation theory, and the rest critically examining several student renditions of texts (poetic or in short narrative), chosen in consultation with the instructor and distributed to participants in advance. The seminar will culminate in the submission of a publication prospectus, an aim that should be pondered as early in the quarter as possible. We all wish to learn from one another in this course.
Thurs. 2-4:50 Royce 152