Lost (and Found) in Translation: Opening Our Minds, Eyes, and Ears
This course explores the art of translation and what it reveals to us as readers, writers, and members of society. What does it mean to think like a translator, to interpret and transmit meaning from one language to another? What happens as stories travel across cultural contexts, historical periods, and artistic media? Are there limitations to cross-cultural communication? We will train our ears to detect the translator’s craft and discuss what the recent upsurge in the publishing industry’s interest in literature in translation may say about our current literary epoch. Readings include theoretical texts, craft essays by translators, Friel’s play Translations, and literature in translation by authors such as Homer, Rilke, Wang Wei, Dostoyevsky, and Lorca. Finally, we will draw upon the wealth of experts in translation on the Middlebury campus to join us for class discussions. This is an analytical and experientially based course which will culminate in a final paper: a critical analysis, an original translation accompanied by a translator’s note, or a creative project applying “translation thinking” across various artistic media. No prior knowledge of foreign language required.