AJ29050 Literary Translation - Reflected Practice

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2009
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 3 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Renata Kamenická, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Timetable
Thu 8:20–9:55 G31
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 12 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/12, only registered: 0/12
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 13 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The aim of the course is to provide students with an opportunity to work on a longer literary translation for one term while receiving a considerable amount of feedback (from teacher and fellow-students) and engaging in discussion on a number of topics relevant to literary translation, such as literary translation and interpretation, domestication vs. foreignization strategies, literary translation and creativity, gender and translation, explicitness and implicitness in literary texts, translating and revision, norm-confirmation and norm-breaking, translatorial and editorial work in literary translation etc.
In Spring 2009, individual students will be translating approximately 20-page long samples of diverse, hybrid forms of biographical wrtiting (from late 18th century till the present) to be published in an anthology (Brno: Host). The other course components will be background reading and consultations with dr. Prajznerová, dr. Horáková, dr. Hardy or dr. Kaylor as far as relevant literary contexts are concerned.
The preliminary list of texts to be translated is the following:
Peter Ackroyd, from Dickens (1990): Chapter 19
Aritha Van Herk, from In Visible Ink: Crypto-Frictions (1991)
Jackie Huggins, from Auntie Rita (1994) or Sister Girl (1998)
Gail Jones - ???
Walter, Pater, “Winckelmann,” from Renaissance (1873)
Forrest Reid, from Apostate (1926)
Kim Scott, from Kayang and Me (2005)
A. J. A. Symons, A Quest for Corvo: An Experiment in Biography (1934)
Mary Austin, from Lost Borders (1909)
Bartram, William, Travels (1791, rpt. 1988)
John Berger, from A Fortunate Man: The Story of a Country Doctor (1967): pp.77-109
Emily Carr, from The Book of Small (1942)
Paul Carter, from The Lie of the Land (1996): third chapter - on William Light - last part
Gilean Douglas, from Silence Is My Homeland: Life on Teal River (1978)
Emma Bell Miles, from The Journals (unpublished)
Scott Russell Sanders, from A Private History of Awe (2006)
Catharine Parr Traill, from Pearls and Pebbles; or, Notes of an Old Naturalist (1894, rpt. 1999)
Work in progress will be discussed and peer-reviewed and relevant topics will be discussed as they arise in students’ translations. Problems and experience will be shared within and between groups created for the purpose. Credits will be granted for consistent work on the translation throughout the term, engagement in class discussions, and the finished translation plus a short essay disussing one of the topics dealt with during the process of translation.
You are welcome to inquire with the teacher should you wish to know more about the course.
Syllabus
  • W1 Introduction, course rules, course materials, text selection.
  • W2 Text selection - presentations by students.
  • W3 Translation strategy - presentation by students.
  • W4 Group 1 - discussion of student translations, peer evaluation and comments; Hermeneutics of translation.
  • W5 Group 2 - discussion of student translations, peer evaluation and comments; Translation and literary criticism.
  • W6 Group 3 - discussion of student translations, peer evaluation and comments; Translation and ideology.
  • W7 Mid-term review, teacher evaluation.
  • W8 Group 1 - selected issues; peer evaluation.
  • W9 Group 2 - selected issues; peer evaluation.
  • W10 Group 3 - selected issues; peer evaluation.
  • W11 Proofreading review I. Translation ethics.
  • W12 Proofreading review II. Gender in translation.
  • W13 Final discussion, text submission, course evaluation.
Literature
  • GADDIS ROSE, Marilyn. Translation and Literary Criticism (Translation as Analysis). Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing, 1997, 101 pp. ISBN 9781900650045. info
  • Rethinking translation : discourse, subjectivity, ideology. Edited by Lawrence Venuti. London: Routledge, 1992, xi, 235 s. ISBN 0-415-06050-8. info
  • SIMON, Sherry. Gender in translation :cultural identity and the politics of transmission. London: Routledge, 1996, x, 195 s. ISBN 0-415-11536-1. info
  • After Babel : aspects of language and translation. Edited by George Steiner. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975, viii, 507. ISBN 0192811894. info
  • VENUTI, Lawrence. The scandals of translation : towards an ethics of difference. 1st pub. New York: Routledge, 1998, vii, 210. ISBN 0415169305. info
  • VENUTI, Lawrence. The translator's invisibility : a history of translation. London: Routledge, 1995, xii, 353 s. ISBN 0-415-11537-X. info
Assessment methods
Compulsory seminars. Credits will be granted for consistent work on the translation throughout the semester, engagement in class discussion, the finished individual translation and a short essay discussing one of the topics addressed during the term with respect to one’s translation.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught annually.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Předmět si nemohou zapsat studenti Bc. studia AJ
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2008.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2009/AJ29050