Seminar Translating Theory and Practice I Übersetzen zwischen Theorie und Praxis I Do 10.30

This seminar seeks to open critical conversations among students of literary translation and of comparative studies. As part of a co-teaching module organised by Stephanie Kreiner (literary translation) and Sonja Frenzel (comparative studies), it seeks to bring together current perspectives on practices of interlingual and intercultural translation with contemporary theories of translation as a cultural technique of literary comparison. To this end, the course will revolve around a joint translational project and will result in the joint publication of a bilingual anthology of short stories. Please note: This course runs over 2 semesters and requires additional workload; it may be taken as -Fachmodul” and -Projektmodul”. If you wish to take this course as -Projektmodul”, please contact Dr. Sonja Frenzel for further information. Students of Comparative Studies should sign up with Dr. Sonja Frenzel; students of Literary Translation should sign up with Stephanie Kreiner. Content: The renowned Caine Prize for African Writing is awarded annually to a short story written in English by an African author. In the course of this module, we will be discussing and translating selected stories from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and Kenya: In the first semester we will be focusing on Zimbabwean author NoViolet Bulawayo’s short story -Snapshots” (Caine Prize 2011), as well as with short stories by Nigerian authors’ Rotimi Babatunde (Caine Prize 2012, -Bombay’s Republic”) and Tope Folarin (Caine Prize 2013, -Miracle”). In the second semester (winter 2016/17), we will be engaging with Kenyan author Okwiri Odour’s short story -My Father’s Head” (Caine Prize 2014), as well as with an array of additional short stories from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and Kenya, which will complement the bilingual anthology. Structure: This course brings together students of literary translation and comparative studies. As a co-teaching module, it is structured into three recurrent phases of (A) plenary sessions for all participants, (B) disciplinary sessions for each group, and (C) plenary sessions. For each short story, we will be placing the text in its historical, political, and cultural context in phase A, in order to then discuss specificities of translation as theory or practice in phase B, which will be brought into critical conversation in phase C. Project: This course is designed to translate 15 short stories written in English by African writers and compile them into a bilingual anthology. This anthology will be published in the renowned series Düsseldorf übersetzt. In the processes of translating the short stories, students of comparative literature will edit their peers’ translations into German. Additional workshops with translators and editors will support them in these tasks. Furthermore, and in cooperation with Allerweltshaus Köln, the Caine Prize winners of 2010-2015 will be invited to Germany in June/July and September-November 2016. During their stays, they will not only hold public readings in Cologne and Düsseldorf, but they will also give workshops on intercultural translation for the participants of this seminar. As it will be the students’ task to participate in organising the readings in Düsseldorf and the workshops at HHU, they will acquire professional skills in event management and they will have the opportunity to establish contacts with prospective employers in this field. Englisch (MA, PO 2013) Universität Düsseldorf SoSe 2016 Dr. Frenzel Sonja