**THISSYLLABUSISAWORKINPROGRESSANDSUBJECTTOCHANGE**

THEORY&PRACTICEOF
LITERARYTRANSLATION
COMPARATIVELITERATURE195:606|SPANISH&PORTUGUESE940:598

RUTGERSUNIVERSITY

TUESDAY9.1512.15
FALL2010

CARPENDER103B|C/D

DRKARENELIZABETHBISHOP

kebishop@rci.rutgers.edu
CarpenderHall303
732.932.9412x27(office)

COURSEOVERVIEW
Thiscourseisbothaseminaronthetheoryofliterarytranslationandaworkshopinwhichwe
willshare,reviseandrefineourowntranslationsinprogress.Wewillreadanddiscussthe
majortheoreticaltextsthatmakeupthefieldoftranslationstudies,includingworksbyDryden,
Schleiermacher,Goethe,Benjamin,Jakobson,Borges,Heidegger,Steiner,Berman,Derrida,
SpivakandApterandreflectontherecenttrendsinthefieldtowardthepoliticsandethicsof
translation.Inourdiscussions,wewillconsiderquestionsoftranslatability,fidelity,the
hierarchicaldivisionbetweenoriginaltextsandtheirtranslations,andthechargedpoliticsof
translation.Throughoutthesemester,wewillcomparedifferenttranslationsofliterarytextsin
ordertoexaminehoweachversionworksanddiscusshowtranslatorsmakedecisionsof
language,style,format,andculturalequivalency.Wewillalsohearfromseveralguest
translatorsthroughoutthesemester.Attheendoftheterm,eachstudentwillprepareafinal
paper,whichmaybeeitheraliteraryortheoreticalanalysisoranoriginaltranslation
accompaniedbyacriticaltranslatorsintroduction.Theprerequisitesforthisclassincludea
demonstrableknowledgeofalanguageotherthanEnglish.

REQUIREDTEXTS
JohnBiguenetandRainerSchulte,eds.,TheCraftofTranslation(1989)
RainerSchulteandJohnBiguenet,eds.,TheoriesofTranslation:AnAnthologyofEssays
fromDrydentoDerrida(1992)
EfranKristal,InvisibleWork:BorgesandTranslation
SuzanneJillLevine,TheSubversiveScribe:TranslatingLatinAmericanFiction(1991)
RalZurita,Purgatory(trans.AnnaDeeny,2010)
acoursereaderandworkbookoftranslations

COURSEREQUIREMENTS

attendanceismandatoryandactive,thoughtful,andarticulateparticipationinourcourse
discussionsandworkshopswillcompriseasignificantportionoffinalgrade

weeklytwopageresponsepapers(notduewhenclassisaworkshop)
anoralpresentationonanarticleorgroupofarticlesfromourweeklyreading
atranslationintoEnglishofashorttextorseriesofpoemstobepresentedanddiscussedin
classandrevisedseveraltimes
afinalproject,totakeoneofthefollowingforms:
an1520pageessayonaparticulartheoryoftranslation,translationstudiesoran
analysisofapublishedtranslation;
atranslationofashortproseworkorseriesofpoemsaccompaniedbyafivepage
criticaltranslatorsintroduction.

OFFICEHOURS&CONTACTINFORMATION
IwillholdofficehoursonThursdaysfrom1012,aswellasbyappointment.Myofficeisin
CarpenderHall303.Youmayreachmeat732.932.9412x27oronemailat
kebishop@rci.rutgers.edu.Emailswillbereturnedwithin48hours.Pleasenotethatitis
difficulttomaintainextendedconversationsbyemail;pleasemakeuseofofficehoursifyour
queryrequiresongoingorcomplexdialogue.

*IFYOUAREASTUDENTWITHADISABILITY,PLEASESPEAKWITHMEATTHE
BEGINNINGOFTHESEMESTERABOUTANYACCOMMODATIONSYOUMAY
NEED.

*THISSYLLABUSISPROVISIONALANDSUBJECTTOCHANGE.

CALENDAROFREADINGS&ASSIGNMENTS

*TT=TheoriesofTranslation

*CT=CraftofTranslation
*CR=coursereader

WEEK1::SEPTEMBER7::INTRODUCTION

introductiontotheclass;overviewoffieldoftranslationstudies;introductiontocentral
concernsoftranslationtheory

WEEK2::SEPTEMBER14::THEWORDITSELF:LANGUAGE&MEANING

Jakobson,OnLinguisticAspectsofTranslation(TT,144151)andQuestfortheEssenceof
Language(CR)
Heidegger,Language(CR)
Borges,AnInvestigationoftheWord(CR)
Paz,Translation:LiteratureandLetters(TT,152162)
Agamben,TheIdeaofSilenceandTheIdeaofLanguage(CR)
**furtherreading:
GeorgeSteiner,UnderstandingasTranslationandLanguageandGnosisfromAfterBabel:
AspectsofLanguageandTranslation

WEEK3::SEPTEMBER21::THETASKSOFTHETRANSLATOR

RainerSchulteandJohnBiguenet,introductiontoTheoriesofTranslation(TT,110)
HugoFriedrich,OntheArtofTranslation(TT,1116)
JohnDryden,OnTranslation(TT,1731)
FriedrichSchleiermacher,OntheDifferentMethodsofTranslating(TT,3654)
JohannWolfgangvonGoethe,Translations(TT,6063)
WalterBenjamin,TheTaskoftheTranslator(TT,7182)
**furtherreading:
EzraPound,GuidosRelations(TT,8392)
WalterBenjamin,TranslationForandAgainstandTheKnowledgethattheFirstMaterial
onWhichtheMimeticFacultyTestedItself

WEEK4::SEPTEMBER28::TRANSLATIONWORKSHOP
analysisofpublishedtranslationsanddiscussionontranslatability,fidelity,stylistic
responsibilityanddecisionmaking;selectionsfromworkbookTBD
GregoryRabassa,NoTwoSnowflakesareAlike:TranslationasMetaphor(CT,112)
WilliamWeaver,TheProcessofTranslation(117124)

WEEK5::OCTOBER5::THEETHICSOFTRANSLATION

AntoineBerman,TheManifestationofTranslation(CR)andTranslationandtheTrialsofthe
Foreign(CR)
GeorgeSteiner,TheHermeneuticMotion(CR)
JacquesDerrida,DesToursdeBabel(TT,218227)andWhatIsaRelevantTranslation(CR)

WEEK6::OCTOBER12::TRANSLATIONINBORGES,BORGESONTRANSLATION
JorgeLuisBorges,PierreMenard:AuthoroftheQuixote;TheEnigmaofEdward
FitzGerald;TheHomericVersions;WordMusicandTranslation(allinCR)
EfranKristal,InvisibleWork:BorgesandTranslation(2002)
**furtherreading:SergioWaisman,BorgesandTranslation:TheIrreverenceofthePeriphery
(2005)

WEEK7::OCTOBER19::TRANSLATIONWORKSHOP
shorttranslationsdueanddiscussedinclass

1924OCTOBER2010::AMERICANLITERARYTRANSLATORSASSOCIATION
ANNUALMEETING
Philadelphia,PA|theme:DramainTranslation|http://www.utdallas.edu/alta
conferencetripproposedforweekendof2224October

WEEK8::OCTOBER26::THESUBVERSIVESCRIBE

invitedguestlecturebySuzanneJillLevine
SuzanneJillLevine,TheSubversiveScribe:TranslatingLatinAmericanFiction

WEEK9::NOVEMBER2::THEPOLITICSOFTRANSLATION
GayatriSpivak,ThePoliticsofTranslation(CR)
KwameAnthonyAppiah,ThickTranslation(CR)
revisionsofshorttranslationsdue

WEEK10::NOVEMBER9::CULTUREINTRANSLATION

studentselectedworksintranslation(TBD)thatproblematizehowculturegetstransposed
DennisTedlock,TowardaPoeticsofPolyphonyandTranslatability(CR)
HenryStaten,TrackingtheNativeInformant:CulturalTranslationastheHorizonofLiterary
Translation(CR)

WEEK11::NOVEMBER16::INVITEDGUESTSPEAKER
invitedguestspeakerAnnaDeeny
RalZurita,Purgatory(1979;trans.AnnaDeeny,2010)
**furtherreading:RalZurita,INRI(trans.WilliamRowe,2009)

WEEK12::NOVEMBER23::TRANSLATIONWORKSHOP
workshopprojectsinprogress

WEEK13::NOVEMBER30::TRANSLATIONSTUDIESATTHEMILLENIUM
EmilyApter,TheTranslationZone

WEEK14::DECEMBER7::CONCLUSION
conclusionstoclass
studentpresentationsoffinalprojects

Thusday,December16::finalprojectsdueby5p.m.