Seminar Translation as Comparison Do 12.30

In an increasingly globalised world, in which processes of migration shape everyday experiences and perceptions, translation becomes significant not only as a communicative skill. What is more, translations between cultures are necessary requirements for intercultural communication and, ultimately, for intercultural understanding. Accordingly, translation offers an important counter balance to xenophobic tendencies and reactions to encounters with differences. In this seminar, we will be examining aspects of interlingual and intercultural translation in current translational theories by Emily Apter, Susan Bassnett, Lawrence Venuti, and Rebecca Walkowitz, and bring them to bear on comparative literary theories. Thus devising a framework of ‘translation as comparison’, we will be engaging with short fiction in English. Our discussions will revolve particularly around ideas of cosmopolitanism, which has gained increasing significance in the light of contemporary migrations, as well as with ethical aspects of translation as a necessary tool for community-building. Primary texts will include excerpts from Adam Thirlwell’s Multiples (2013), who has gathered -12 stories in 18 languages” in a series of translations and re-translations; selected poetry by Njeri Wangari, who relates English and Swahili in her vibrant performance poetry, as well as NoViolet Bulawayo’s novella We Need New Names (2014). Theoretical texts will be made available on Ilias. Literaturübersetzen (Master, PO 2011) Universität Düsseldorf SoSe 2016 Dr. Frenzel Sonja