Short description: The MA seminar centres on the translation of literary works belonging to Britain’s minor cultures, thus the literatures of Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The analysis encompasses: linguistic and cultural specificity of the source texts, translation strategies, the place and significance of translations of these texts in the target culture, the critical reception thereof.

Full description: The seminar explores the question of translating literary works which belong to minor cultures within the linguistic and cultural terrain of the British Isles, thus the writings of Scottish, Irish and Welsh authors. The aim of the seminar is to develop students’ analytical skills, and especially their ability to analyse a literary text as translation material, or a literary text in translation, in the context of its linguistic and cultural identity and specificity. During our classes, we will discuss the cultural turn in contemporary translation theories: Descriptive Translation Studies (Gideon Toury), Polysystem Theory and Culture Theory (Itamar Even-Zohar), the notion of refraction (André Lefevere) the idea of translation as the experience of the foreign (Antoine Berman), the strategies of foreignisation and domestication (Lawrence Venuti). Particular attention is given to the postcolonial perspective (Maria Tymoczko, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak). Students will expand their knowledge with regard to the internal linguistic and cultural diversity of the nations of the British Isles, and the role of literature in building national identity (here in the face of the dominant culture). These concepts serve as a starting point for an analysis of the strategies that Scottish, Irish and Welsh authors employ to mark, develop and define their linguistic and cultural distinctiveness, as well as of the functioning of these strategies in translation. We will discuss difficulties inscribed in the translation of texts which bear strong linguistic and cultural markers (and which are at the same time problematic due to their complex and ambiguous relationship with the dominant culture), potential translation solutions, and the reception and significance of translations of such texts in the target culture. The classes involve group discussions as well as individual presentations on the subject of one’s own choice (in the second half of the term).

The first term provides an overview on contemporary translation theories. The second term’s analysis (from the perspective of linguistics, literary and cultural studies) focuses on the way Scottish, Irish and Welsh works function in translation; we will discuss both untranslated texts and existing translations (students’ interests will be taken into account). In the third term, the students will present their own research projects, including work-in-progress reports on the successive chapters. The fourth term, adjusted to the students’ individual needs, will involve one-on-one meetings, where each student’s work is discussed.