LIVES IN TRANSLATION

This class focuses on the theme of translation and what happens when texts and people cross national, cultural, linguistic, racial or gendered borders. Through our classroom discussions and essays, we will explore the following questions: Why or how do texts lend themselves to or resist translation? How do encounters with dominant discourses necessitate acts of self-translation or resistance to translation, especially for people of color, immigrants or queer communities? How do literary narratives change when translated across cultures and time periods? What is the role of the translator in these acts of remaking? Drawing on postcolonial, feminist and translation theory, we will consider how writers have pushed back against dominant narratives through texts that cross and complicate linguistic, cultural and national borders. Readings are subject to change but will likely include a selection from following: a novel by Jean Rhys or Virginia Woolf, fiction and poetry by Sappho, Fatimah Asghar, Irena Klepfisz, Marjane Satrapi, as well as various English translations of the 1001 Nights; scholarly texts by Gloria Anzaldúa, Edward Said, bell hooks, Friedrich Schleiermacher and Jorge Luis Borges. Course costs will not exceed $20; access to books can also be made available to students who need them.