Call for papers: TTR 39.2 Rethinking Self-Translation: Shifting Prisms

Co-edited by Christopher Mole (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle), Trish Van Bolderen, (Independent Scholar, Ireland)

As recently as 20 years ago, the simple act of investigating self-translation was a radical undertaking, partly because of the relative novelty of such research and partly due to the subversive nature of the reflections and findings, which unsettled many of the ways we understood translation, authorship, language and identity. 

By 2024, however, self-translation has gained considerable currency in Translation Studies; and if scholarship is to remain progressive and to continue representing and responding to the contemporary issues surrounding self-translation practices and processes, then it will need to shift its gaze and call into question 1) key assumptions about self-translation and 2) epistemological prisms dominating self-translation research. To date, for instance, self-translation has been considered almost exclusively through a literary prism, with analyses variously rooted in comparing source and target texts, in adopting sociological approaches to reflect on literary actors and contexts, and/or in engaging in genetic criticism (incidentally, all worthy endeavours). As a result, a whole world of non-literary self-translation activity remains largely unrecognized, which leaves many lived experiences and their conceptual complexities unexamined and misunderstood. 

This thematic issue seeks to address such blind spots by rethinking assumptions and paradigms related to scholarship on self-translation, where the notion is defined according to its most common definition: translation by the self. We welcome papers that engage in shifting the prisms of self-translation by exploring such questions as:

• Are the differences between self-translation and allograph translation all that significant? If so, what more can we learn about allograph translation by broadening and deepening our appreciation of such distinctions?
• What are the physiological dimensions (expressions, repercussions) of self-translation? How does considering them open up new avenues of investigation?
• How can we understand performativity in the context of self-translation products and/or processes?
• What nuances have yet to be tackled with respect to self-translation when it comes to the overlap and distinctions between translation BY the self, translation OF the self, and even translation FOR the self?
• What facets of literary self-translation tend to be neglected? For instance: which literary genres have gone un(der)represented?
• What assumptions accompany the notion of self-translation in terms of public, editorial, artistic and/or scholarly perceptions? What are the philosophical, social, artistic and material implications of these assumptions? 
• How do readers access and/or interpret self-translation products? How do publishing industry perceptions and priorities shape (restrict, enable) these products and potential audiences?
• How many and what kinds of selves are contained within a given self-translator, and what are the implications of making room for such multiplicity?
• How is self-translation an uncomfortable experience? And how do self-translators find comfort in this discomfort?
• How can the idea of the self in self-translation be understood, both practically and theoretically, in the age of AI and MT?
• What features characterize self-translation in non-literary spaces (e.g. politics, journalism, the public service, sports, domestic spaces) and in the context of different media (e.g. film, video games, social media platforms, podcasts)?
• What are the connections between memory and self-translation practices?
• What are the limits of agency in the context of self-translation practices, and what are some of the ramifications of those limits (e.g. for the more-than-human world)?

Articles of 8,000 to 11,000 words, written in French or English, should be sent before February 16, 2026 to: chris.mole@live.co.uk and trish@bolderwords.com.

The Word document should include the author’s name, institutional affiliation, and an abstract in French and English (250 to 300 words each), followed by 5 keywords and a biobibliographical note (200 to 300 words).

All articles received will be double-blind peer reviewed. The publication is scheduled for November/December 2026. Should there be any questions, please contact the guest co-editors directly.

Selective Bibliography

Bujaldón de Esteves, Lila et al., eds (2019). Literary Self-Translation in Hispanophone Contexts: Europe and the Americas. London, Palgrave Macmillan.

Castro, Olga et al., eds (2017). Self-Translation and Power. Negotiating Identities in Multilingual European Contexts. London, Palgrave Macmillan.

Cordingley, Anthony (2013). “The Passion of Self-Translation: A Masocritical Perspective.” In Anthony Cordingley, ed. Self-Translation: Brokering Originality in Hybrid Culture. London and New York, Bloomsbury, pp. 81-94.

Cordingley, Anthony (2018). “Self-Translation.” In Kelly Washbourne and Ben Van Wyke, eds. Routledge Handbook of Literary Translation. Abingdon and New York, Routledge, pp. 352-368.

Desjardins, Renée (2019). “A Preliminary Theoretical Investigation into [Online] Social Self-Translation: The Real, the Illusory, and the Hyperreal.” Translation Studies, 12, 2, pp. 1-21. DOI: 10.1080/14781700.2019.1691048

Ferraro, Alessandra, and Rainier Grutman, eds (2016). L’autotraduction littéraire: Perspectives théoriques. Paris, Classiques Garnier.

Gentes, Eva and Trish Van Bolderen, eds (2024). “Literary Self-Translation in the 21st Century: A Global View.” Journal of Literary Multilingualism, 2, 1, pp. 1-10.

Grutman, Rainier (1998). “Auto-translation.” In Mona Baker and Gabriela Saldanha, eds. The Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. London and New York, Routledge, pp. 17-20.

Grutman, Rainier (2018). “The Self-Translator as Author: Modern Self-Fashioning and Ancient Rhetoric in Federman, Lakhous, and De Kuyper.” In Judith Woodsworth, ed. The Fictions of Translation. Amsterdam and Philadelphia, John Benjamins, pp. 15-30.

Jung, Verena (2002). English-German Self-translation of Academic Texts and its Relevance for Translation Theory and Practice. Frankfurt, Peter Lang.

Kippur, Sara (2015). Writing It Twice: Self-translation and the Making of a World Literature in French. Evanston, Northwestern University Press.

Klimkiewicz, Aurelia (2013). “Self-Translation as Broken Narrativity: Towards an Understanding of the Self’s Multilingual Dialogue.” In Anthony Cordingley, ed. Self-Translation: Brokering Originality in Hybrid Culture. London, Bloomsbury, pp. 189-201.

Lahiri, Jhumpa (2022). Translating Myself and Others. Princeton, Princeton University Press.

Minors, Helen Julia (2023). Music, Dance and Translation. London, Bloomsbury.

Panichelli-Batalla, Stéphanie (2015). “Autofiction as a Fictional Metaphorical Self-Translation.” Journal of Romance Studies. 15, 1, pp. 29-51.

Saint-Martin, Lori (2022). Un bien nécessaire: éloge de la traduction littéraire. Montréal and Québec, Boréal.

Saint-Martin, Lori (2023). Pour qui je me prends. Paris, Éditions de l’Olivier.

Shread, Carolyn (2009). “Redefining Translation through Self-Translation: The Case of Nancy Huston.” French Literature Series, 36, pp. 51-61.

Stavans, Illan (2018). On Self-Translation. Meditations on Language. Albany, State University of New York Press.

Stocco, Melisa (2021). La Autotraducción en la Literatura Mapuche. Frankfurt, Peter Lang.

Wilson, Rita (2009). “The Writer’s Double: Translation, Writing, and Autobiography.” Romance Studies, 27, 3, pp. 186-198. DOI: 10.1179/174581509X455150

Wilson, Rita (2017). “Forms of Self-Translation.” In Nicholas Monk et al., eds. Reconstructing Identity. Cham, Springer International Publishing, pp. 157-177. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-58427-0_8

Database: Writing Bilingually, 1465-1700: Self-translated books in Italy and France

Writing Bilingually is an amazing research project led by Sara Migletti on early modern self-translation.
It aims to create a catalogue of prose self-translations produced in Italy and France between 1465 and 1700. The database is work in progress. 
You can access the catalogue here: https://sites.google.com/view/writing-bilingually-1465-1700 

You can watch the recording of the launch event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ_Io0Ke5tQ&t=1s&ab_channel=WarburgInstitute 

Talk: Self-Translation & Translating Meaning Through Contemporary Art

Talk: Self-Translation & Translating Meaning Through Contemporary Art

Friday, June 21 2024 at 1:00 PM EDT on Zoom

How is it possible to communicate meaning in art through translation? How does diplomacy work through translation? Can we think of translation as a kind of soft power? If so, why do authors such as Karen Blixen / Isak Dinesen self-translate their writing? In this talk, Catherine Lefebvre will draw on examples from her current work as a curator of contemporary art and the cultural attachée for the Danish Embassy in Paris as well as from her work as the former director of the Karen Blixen Museum.

Link to  register  for the talk to receive the zoom link can be found here: 
https://engage.gsas.harvard.edu/event/10177695  

This event is hosted by the Fellowships & Writing Center, the Language Center, and Translation Studies 260, with support from the Elson Family Arts Initiative Fund at Harvard University.

JLM Special issue on Self-translation in 21st century is out!

Journal of Literary Multilingualism -Special Issue: Literary Self-Translation in the 21st Century: A Global View edited by Trish van Bolderen and myself is now published!

The volume sheds light on regions, writers, practices, and contexts that have thus far received little to no critical attention. You will find lots of interesting and provocative new takes on what it means to translate one's own writing - including big-picture reflection, up-close analysis, and conversations with self-translating authors. 

Contributions cover topics such as:

• Self-translation in Asian languages, especially Chinese (Cordingley and Stenberg, Ma and Kimura, Wong and Kimura)
• Self-translation in new digital (self-)publishing formats, such as webcomics and social media posts (Van Dijk, Kampert)
• Self-translation in the context of lesser-translated languages (Kampert, Stocco)
• Representations of queer and feminist voices in self-translation (Stocco, Ma and Kimura)
• Trilingual self-translation (Van Bolderen & Hazelton & Saravia)

Content overview:

• Eva Gentes and Trish Van Bolderen:
  Introduction: Literary Self-Translation in the 21st Century
• Anthony Cordingley and Josh Stenberg:
  Self-Translation in the Sinosphere: Challenging Orthodoxies from Shanghai to Taipei to Makassar  [open access]
• Floriane Van Dijk:
  Self-Translation and Comics: Practices, Attitudes, and Publishing
• Magdalena Kampert:
  Saving the Unsavable or Self-Translating to Exist? An Investigation into Self-Translation in Sicilian Context [open access]
• Melisa Stocco:
  Nonnormative Self-Translation and Code-Switching in Argentina ’s New Feminist and Queer Poetry
• Yahia Ma and Tets Kimura:
  Self-translation, Rewriting, and Translingual Address: Li Kotomi’s Solo Dance [open access]
• Elaine Wong und Li Kotomi:
  Interview: A Translingual Voice in Japanese Literature: A Conversation between Li Kotomi and Elaine Wong
• Trish Van Bolderen, Hugh Hazelton, and Alejandro Saravia:
  Interview: Trilingual Literary Self-Translation: An Interview with Two Montreal Writers, Hugh Hazelton and Alejandro Saravia
• Paul M. Worley:
  Book Review: Melisa Stocco, La Autotraducción en la Literatura Mapuche. New York: Peter Lang, 2021. isbn 978-1433173158. 246pp. $US89.95.
• Rainer Guldin:
  Book Review: Katie Jones, Julian Preece and Aled Rees (eds.), International Perspectives on Multilingual Literatures. From Translingualism to Language Mixing. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021. isbn 978-1-5275-6017-8. v + 307 pages, hardback. £84.
 

Please visit the website of the Journal of Literary Multlilingualism to start reading the three open access articles and ask your librarian to order the journal to access the other contributions:

https://brill.com/view/journals/jlm/2/1/jlm.2.issue-1.xml

[CFP] Self-translation in Children's and young adult books

Call for papers: Conference: Self-translation in Children's and young adult books

Padua, 13-14 February 2025

Self-translation has only recently emerged as a separate research field within Translation Studies. Yet it has proved a fertile and promising one, constantly evolving and expanding. Similarly, translation for children and young people has attracted growing scholarly attention over the last twenty years and developed into a research area in its own right. However, studies at the crossroads of the two disciplines are still lacking, although some authors do self-translate in children’s and Young Adult (YA) literature. Even when they are not involved as translators, authors are sometimes invited to take part in the translation process, thus affecting it and contributing to the publishing project in a hybrid, complex way.

This conference seeks to broaden the horizons of translation studies in the context of children’s and YA literature by opening it up to self-translation, a phenomenon that needs to be investigated from both a translation and publishing perspective.

Since avant-textes play a crucial role in the study of translation as a process, we particularly encourage research combining self-translation, translation for young people, and genetic translation studies.

As a translingual and transcultural phenomenon, self-translation can also qualify as transcreation, thus allowing for a redefinition of this concept.

We welcome proposals that address self-translation in books for children and YA from different perspectives. Possible topics may include (but are not limited to):

• Self-translation as an editorial phenomenon, including the role of the paratext(s) (peri-, epi- or hypotext) within its definition and evolution.
• Differences and similarities in translation approaches when self-translating for young people and for adults.
• Self-translation from a translation perspective: approaches, strategies, and possible macro-differences with allo-translation.
• Self-translation and genetic translation studies.
•  Self-translation and transcreation.

Abstract submission

Abstracts (300-400 words, TNR 12) in the language of the presentation should include the following information:

• author(s) with affiliation(s);
• title and text of proposal, also presenting the theoretical and methodological framework;
• a selected bibliography;
• a short bio-bibliographical note.

Abstracts should be submitted to the conference website https://youngselftrans.sciencesconf.org/.

All submissions are blind reviewed by members of the Scientific Committee.

Notification of acceptance will be sent no later than July 15, 2024.

Presentations

Presentations should not exceed 20 minutes and will be followed by a 10-minute discussion.

All proposals accepted for and presented at the conference must be in one of the following languages: French, Italian, Spanish, or English.

Publication

Selected papers will be published. Further information will be provided at the end of the conference.

Deadlines

Deadline for abstract submission to the sciencesCONF platform (https://youngselftrans.sciencesconf.org/): 8 June 2024

Notification of acceptance: 15 July 2024

For more information, please visit the conference website at https://youngselftrans.sciencesconf.org/.

Panel discussion: Translating a self-translation: Epic Annette 8th February

Epic Annette: Podium Discussion with Anne Weber (German-French self-translator) and Tess Lewis (translator of the novel into English), organised by Hannah Scheithauer (Queen’s DPhil candidate in French & German) 

Thursday, 8th February, 5-7pm, Shulman Auditorium, The Queen’s College in Oxford, England

Registration free but essential: https://www.queens.ox.ac.uk/blog/epic-annette-an-evening-of-translation-and-resistance-at-queens/

Having grown up in Germany and later settled in France, Anne Weber is an author and translator whose work reaches across two distinct cultural contexts and linguistic traditions. Weber consistently completes both a French and a German version of her writings, engaging in practices of self-translation which maximise the creative potential of her two languages of expression. The stakes of translation, in this context, go far beyond the purely linguistic, as they necessitate an acute awareness to questions of history, memory, and cultural identity. This is aptly illustrated by her latest work. Published in 2020 and titled Annette, ein Heldinnenepos in German, Annette, une épopée in French, it retraces the life of a heroine of the French resistance, who came to fight for Algerian independence in the post-war era. Using a verse form inspired by ancient epic, Weber thus addresses the contested place of colonialism in French national memory. At the same time, the work speaks to distinctively German debates on the singular status of the Holocaust in the country’s memory culture and its relationship to other – and most notably, colonial – histories of violence.

The text was translated into English by Tess Lewis and published as Epic Annette: A Heroine’s Tale by Indigo Press in 2022. Having already won a PEN Translates Award for her skilful translation of the text’s unique form and style, Lewis has recently been shortlisted for the Schlegel-Tieck Prize, which will be awarded in February 2024. Lewis is an accomplished writer and translator from both French and German, with previous translation projects including a range of authors such as Peter Handke, Walter Benjamin, Montaigne, Lutz Seiler, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, and Christine Angot.

During the podium event, Weber and Lewis will discuss their work on the text, the relationship of translation and literary creation, and the challenges of conveying a complex and sensitive story to audiences with vastly different backgrounds, insights, and expectations. Their conversation will be followed by an audience Q&A and a drinks reception.

To sign up, please visit: https://www.queens.ox.ac.uk/blog/epic-annette-an-evening-of-translation-and-resistance-at-queens/ 

Self-translation panel at the London Book Fair (12th March 2024)

Self-translation will be a panel topic at the London Book Fair on Tuesday, 12th March 2024,13:15 - 14:00. The panel "Writing the Same Text Twice? Bilingual Poets and Self-translation" will take place at Literary Translation Centre, Panelists are:

• Astrid Alben (Dutch-English)
  
• Beatriz Chivite (Basque-Spanish)
• Iestyn Tyne (Welsh-English)
• Alexandra Büchler (chair)
  
  

Announcement:
Self-translation is a way forward for bilingual authors writing in less translated languages who want to reach a wider audience in a range of markets. It may also give them a chance to approach a text from another cultural and linguistic perspective, rethink and reshape it, producing an authoritative second language version or a second ‘original’. Poets bilingual in Basque, Dutch, English, Spanish and Welsh discuss the processes, challenges and rewards of having the capacity to write in two or more languages and translate one’s own work.

More information and bio of the panelists:
https://www.londonbookfair.co.uk/en-gb/whats-on/seminar-programme/programme/session-details.3614.214541.writing-the-same-text-twice-bilingual-poets-and-self_translation.html 

New edited volume: "Creación, traducción, autotraducción"

The  volume Creación, traducción, autotraducción, edited by Olga Anokhina y Aurelia Arcocha has recently been published. It focuses on self-translation in Spain.

Access to the content overview: https://www.iberoamericana-vervuert.es/indices/indice_R213584.pdf  

Read the introduction: https://www.iberoamericana-vervuert.es/introducciones/introduccion_R213584.pdf

More information: https://www.iberoamericana-vervuert.es/FichaLibro.aspx?P1=213584 

Conference: Literary Self-Translation and its Metadiscourse, Power Relations in Postcolonial Contexts, Liège, Belgium, 26-27 October 2023

I feel honored to be on the scientific board for this exciting upcoming conference in Belgium.  All information can be found on the conference homepage.

Thursday 26 October 2023
9:30-10:00 Welcome and Conference Opening: Núria Codina, Maud Gonne, Marie Herbillon, Reine Meylaerts, Myriam-Naomi Walburg
10:00-11:00 Keynote Lecture by Rachael Gilmour (Queen Mary University of London) 
11:30-13:00 Panel 1: Self-Translation as Multilingual Writing in Postcolonial Contexts

• Trish Van Bolderen: “Wasting Away: How ‘Waste’ Represents Fertile Ground for Understanding Writers’ Attitudes about Self-Translation”
• Ai-Ling Lu (The Ohio State University): “Renegotiating Ethnic Identity Through Linguistic Hybridity and Self-Translation: A Case Study of a Taiwanese Amis Poet, Adaw Palaf”
• Ovio Olaru (Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu): “Self-Othering the Roma”

 14:00-15:30 Panel 2: Self-Translation, Bilingualism and Linguistic Minorities 

•  Laura Kennedy (Queen’s University Belfast): “Self-translation through Literary Dubbing in Tsitsi Dangaremba’s Nervous Conditions”
• Peter D. Mathews (Hanyang University): "From Woolf to Fox: Literary Self-Translation and Contemporary Australian Fiction"
• Mirna Sindičić Sabljo (University of Zadar): “Self-translation in the Bilingual Work of Joséphine Bacon” 

16:00-17:00 Panel 3: Self-Translation as Retranslation: Political and Linguistic Implications 

• Prabhat Kumar (Indira Gandhi National Open University New Delhi): “Selftranslation as a Protest against Indifferent Translation” 
• Maria Chiorean (Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu): The Metabolization of Anticolonial Themes in Sorley MacLean's Translated and Self-Translated Poetry: Between Political Critique, Assimilation and 'Exotic' Selfishness" 

17:00-18:30 Panel 4: Linguistic Migration, Memory and the Politics of Language 

• Delphine Munos (University of Liège): “‘Mal vu, mal dit’: ars memoriae and Selftranslation in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Work” 
• Eralda L. Lameborshi (Texas A&M University): “The Dialectic of Self-Translation: Gëzim Hajdari’s Linguistic Migration and Double Language” 
• Ouyang Yu (Independent scholar and author): “Self-translating Moon over Melbourne and Other Poems and The Angry Wu Zili” 

Friday 27 October 2023 

9:30-10:30 Keynote by Gillian Lane-Mercier (McGill University) 

10:45-12:15 Panel 5: Power Relations and Self-Translation in Sinophone Contexts 

• Lara Maconi (East Asian Civilisations Research Centre, Paris): “Tibetan Variations in Self-Translation. Diglossia, Cultural Belonging and Reinventing the Self in Tibetan Contemporary Literature” 
• Xin Wei (The Chinese University of Hong Kong): “Self-Translation as a Voice of the Other: Pema Tseden’s Sinophone Stories and Films” 
• Xinran Di (Beijing Foreign Studies University): “Self-Translation as Self-Consecration or Self-Illusion? : A Sociological Glance at Eileen Chang” 

13:15-14:45 Panel 6: (Self)-Censorship and Erasure in Practices of Self-Translation 

• Georgina Fooks (University of Oxford): “No Mother Tongue? Self-Translation and Alejandra Pizarnik’s Translingual Poetics” 
• Oleksandr Kalnychenko (V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University) and Natalia Kamovnikova (Matej Bel University): “Oleksandr Finkel’s Self-Translation: 1929 and 1962 Papers Compared” 
• Ilya Skokleenko (Vrije Universiteit Brussel): "On the Independence of Ukraine: Russian (Neo-Colonialism in Joseph Brodsky's (Not) Self-Translated Poetry". 

14:45 - 15:45 Panel 7: Self-Translation as Self-Fashioning and Self-Exoticization 

• Rainier Grutman (University of Ottawa): “Self-Translating in and for Abya Yala” 
• Sare Rabia Öztürk (Boğaziçi University): “The Bilingual Website as a Site of SelfTranslation for Literary Celebrity: The Case of Elif Shafak” 1

16:15 - 17:45 Panel 8: The Impact of Self-translation on Reception and Circulation 

• Snejana Ung (Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu): “Self-Translating from Serbo-Croatian in a Post-Yugoslav Context: The Case of Lana Bastašić’s Catch the Rabbit (2021)” 
• Max Hidalgo Nácher (Universitat de Barcelona/ École Normale Supérieure): “Haroldo de Campos et les politiques de la littérature” 
• Fransiska Louwagie (University of Aberdeen): “Self-Translation and literary reception in the works of Ouyang Yu and Raymond Federman” 

17: 45 – 18:15 Closing remarks: Núria Codina, Maud Gonne, Marie Herbillon, Reine Meylaerts, Myriam-Naomi Walburg

For more information: https://www.cirti.uliege.be/cms/c_10745974/fr/cirti-literary-self-translation-and-its-metadiscourse

Conference: Self-Translation: Inclusion Of Diversity, Bologna, 20 - 21 September 2023

I have wonderful memories of the first conference on self-translation in Bologna, so I am especially sad to miss the second one.

Please note: Registration closes 1st September. 

Highlights from the program

Wednesday, 20 September 2023

9:30 Keynote address

Rainier Grutman: Post-Vernacular Self-Translation: Bringing Languages Back from the Brink

10:45 Session I Self-Translation as an Inclusive Act: The Case of Vladimir Nabokov

- Irina Marchesini: Why the Space of Self-Translation Matters: Nabokov, Identity and Arizona

- Gabriella Elina Imposti: Collaborative Self-Translation: VV, DV Nabokov and Italian Language

- Julie Lesnoff: Can we Speak of Self-Translation in the Context of Nabokov’s Own Writing of the Screenplay for Lolita?

- Chiara Montini: Re-Translating in Collaboration: the Other Side of Self-Translation: Vittorio Alfieri and Vladimir Nabokov

14:20 Session II Self-Translation in the Slavic Area

- Nadzieja Bąkowska: Il caso di Maria Kuncewiczowa: autotraduzione e narrazione autobiografica

- Magdalena Kampert: From the Monolingual Ideals of Nationhood to a Multilingual Paradigm and Sustainability: Self-Translation as a Means of Recognition of Diversity and Cultural Inclusion

- Kristina Landa: I limiti della Self-Translation ne I limiti dell’arte: il caso di Vjačeslav Ivanov

- Katja Radoš-Perković and Sanja Roić: Autore-(auto)traduttore-traditore? Analisi dell’autotraduzione in inglese e della traduzione in italiano del romanzo Uhvati zeca (2018) di Lana Bastašić

16:15 Session III Self.ie: Literary Self-Translation and Ireland

- Hannah Rice: Féin-aistriú Teanga: Language Shift and Self-Translation in Ireland

- Ellen Corbett: Spectrums within Spectrums: Self-Translation as Aspect of Broader Translation Practicesin Irish to English Translation in Ireland

- Trish Van Bolderen: A (G)host of Other Selves: How Self-Translation Inhabits Allograph Translation in Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat (2020)

Day 2 – Thursday, 21 September 2023

9:00 Keynote address

Anthony Cordingley: When is Self-Translation Global Literature?

9:55 Session IV Self-Translation outside Europe I

- Dunya K. Ismael: Self-Translation, Migration, and Colonial Relations in Sinan Antoon’s Novel The Corpse Washer

- Paola Puccini e Ines Peta: Dalla Biografia (Sīra) ai Tormenti (Tourments) di un asino: l’autotraduzione dall’arabo al francese del romanzo Sīrat ḥimār di Ḥasan Aurīd

- Imsuk Jung: La possibilità e il limite dell’autotraduzione nelle opere letterarie coreane: Silver Stallion di Ahn Junghyo in un processo di riscrittura continua

11:30 Session V Self-Translation outside Europe II

- Maria Antonietta Rossi: Educare alla diversità attraverso la letteratura per l’infanzia: il bilinguismo letterario di Roberto Parmeggiani fra italiano e portoghese brasiliano

- Maria Alice Goncalves Antunes: Migration and Self-Translation: the Case of a Brazilian Linguist in Universities in the USA

- Marcos Eymar: Self-Translating In-betweenness: from Life on the hyphen (1994) to Vidas en vilo (2000) de Gustavo Pérez-Firmat

- Arianna Dagnino: Seeking Inclusion through “Perceived” Self-Amputation: an Italian-Canadian Case Study

14:45 Session VI Self-Translation in the European Context I

- Simona Anselmi: Self-Translating into and from Italian

- Gian Mario Anselmi and Monica Turci: Translating Oneself, Resisting Self-Translation and Bilingualism. The Strange Case of In altre parole / In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri

- Adrian Wanner: From Dove mi trovo to Whereabouts: Linguistic Destabilization in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Self-Translated Novel

- Margherita Dore: Standing Up Against Ableism. The Cathartic and Persuasive Power of Self-Translated Humour

16:40 Session VII Self-Translation in the European Context II

- Fabio Regattin: La duplice Italia? I polars di Gilda Piersanti tra francese e italiano

- Catia Nannoni: L’autotraduzione nella produzione poetica di Francis Tessa/Francesco Tessarolo

- Sabina Ciminari and Elisa Segnini: Traiettorie dell’autotraduzione in Alba de Céspedes, tra intraducibilità e incomparabilità

- Elizabete Manterola Agirrezabalaga: The Self-Translation of Short Stories Collections in an Asymmetric Language Combination

More information, registration and complete program on: https://eventi.unibo.it/selftranslation2023 

Talk on self-translation and Li Kotomi

 Dr Aoife Cantrill (Manchester) will give a talk on self-translator Li Kotomi with the title "Self-Translation and Language-Making in Li Kotomi/Li Qinfeng's The Island Where the Spider Lily Blooms" on Monday, 15 May 2023, 12:45.
More information: https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/a9cea786-6665-4b0d-8be5-40e4f5ca9c5c/  
Only accessible of members of Oxford university, unfortunaley.

Abstract;

Li Kotomi/Li Qinfeng is a Taiwanese-born author living and writing in Japan, whose novels explore migrant experiences, queer perspectives, and linguistic politics. In this talk, Dr Aoife Cantrill will discuss Li’s 2021 Japanophone novel The Island Where the Spider Lily Blooms, which uses the plot device of a young girl washed up on an island with no memory of her previous life to comment on competing ideas of language purity and identity. The linguistic hierarchies established within the novel depend on the different Japanese scripts (kanji, hiragana, katakana), which Li uses to develop themes relating to territory and exclusion. The book was a critical success, winning the prestigious Akutagawa literary award in 2021, making Li the first Taiwanese-born Akutagawa recipient.

The linguistic complexities of the novel are reiterated in its Mandarin Chinese translation, undertaken by Li in 2022. This version of the novel reproduces the linguistic hierarchies of the first, but relies on patterns of script variation devised by Li herself. Taking both versions together provides an opportunity to think about self-translation: what is the influence of script in the translation of contemporary Sinophone and Japanophone literatures? How does Li reproduce structures of linguistic logic between the two versions? And how does a novel in an author’s second language translated back into their first shape ideas of a text being ‘born translated’?