L’Italie au miroir : bilinguisme et auto-traduction dans la poésie de Christina Rossetti

In her recent article titled "Italy in the Mirror: Bilingualism and Self-Translation in Christina Rossetti's Poetry", Mélody Enjoubault discusses Rossetti’s own translations of her nursery rhymes published under the title Ninna-Nanna. 

The article is available online.

Self-translation / Self-destruction

Ian Monk, member of Oulipo, writes about his self-translating experiences by comparing himself to Dr. Frankenstein:

"And what a pain it turned out to be. The further I got stuck into the two texts in question, the more my translations seemed utterly limp and lifeless. And the more I worked over them, the more I felt like some kind of Dr. Frankenstein, with a monster on the slab which was staying stubbornly dead, no matter how many lightning flashes were aimed at its heart."

Nevertheless, the piece we can read on Wordswithoutborders has been self-translated!
So please head over to the fantastic Wordswithoutborders to read the entire article - worth reading!

“Self-Translation and the Nobel Prize: 100 years of Tagore’s Gitanjali”.

Harish Trivedi gave a talk with the title “Self-Translation and the Nobel Prize: 100 years of Tagore’s Gitanjali” in March this year at the Centre for Translation at the Hong Kong Baptist University.
You can read the abstract of his talk here and watch the whole talk (123 minutes!) here.

Cfp: “Autotradução nas Américas” / Self-translation in the Americas

Volume 16 of the Brazilian on-line and Open Access journal Tradução em Revista (jan-jun 2014) will be dedicated to self-translation in the Americas. The volume is edited by Maria Alice Gonçalves Antunes and Rainier Grutman.

Here is the call for papers in English:

Issue No. 16 of Tradução em Revista will include previously unpublished articles on topics related to “Self-translation in the Americas”. The guest editors, Maria Alice Gonçalves Antunes (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil) and Rainier Grutman (University of Ottawa, Canada), welcome any contribution dealing with interlingual text-to-text transfers in which author and translator coincide, without geographical (from Nunavut to Patagonia) or historical (from colonial encounters and even pre-Colombian times up to today's migration and minority writing) restrictions. Articles in Portuguese, English, Spanish and French are accepted.

EDITORS: Maria Alice Gonçalves Antunes (UERJ) and Rainier Grutman (Universidade de Ottawa, Canadá)

Deadline for reception of articles (minimum 3,000 – maximum: 4,000 words): March 31, 2014.

Send the articles in .doc, .docx or .rtf format to Maria Alice Gonçalves Antunes (aliceenglishuerj@gmail.com) and Rainier Grutman (rgrutman@uottawa.ca).

Please include an introductory page with the following information:
- the title in Portuguese and English, Spanish or French, if the article is written in Portuguese;
- the title in the language of the article and in Portuguese, if the article is not writtenin Portuguese;
- the name(s) of the author(s);
- information on the author’s/authors’ academic affiliation and whether the paper (or part of it) has been previously presented at any academic event;
- a 90-word abstract in Portuguese plus an English translation if the article is in Portuguese;
- a 90-word abstract in the language of the article plus a Portuguese translation, if the article is not written in Portuguese;
- biodata of the author(s) and his/her/their email address(es).

Conference Littératures en langue française : Histoire, Mythes et Création

Self-translation will be the topic of two talks at the conference Littératures en langue française : Histoire, Mythes et Création, taking place 21-22.11.2013 at Paris, France.

Michel Calapodis will give a talk on Vassilis Alexakis with the title: "D'une prose de la migration à l’incarnation du paradigme historique de l’hellénisme : l’œuvre francophone de Vassilis Alexakis".

Here is an extract of his abstract:
"Auteur à double résidence, bilingue, auto-traduisant ses propres romans, V. Alexakis inscrit tous ses récits dans un va-et-vient de nature identitaire entre la scène française et la scène grecque. [...] D’une certaine manière, sous la « parole » francophone de souvenirs érigés en fiction, transparaît le type d’histoire qui est activé : une histoire-mémoire de la nation hellénique dont la diglossie narrative renforce le caractère ipse (ipséité) de son identité."


Ghenadie Râbacov will give a talk about Linda Maria Baros with the title: "Vues sémiotiques sur la création poétique bilingue et l’autotraduction chez Linda Maria Baros"

Here is an extract of his abstract
"[...] Tout en se basant sur la théorie du sens et les postulats des sémioticiens Ch. Pierce et A. Ljudskanov, le chercheur tâche de démontrer que l’acte autotraductif est de nature sémiotique, que c’est un cas spécifique de l’automatisation des activités créatrices de l’homme, relevant du processus mental qui se projette dans le duo auteur-traducteur. L’auteur présente aussi un modèle d’analyse sémiotique de quelques poésies écrites et autotraduites par le poète roumain L. M. Baros. Il propose sa propre définition de l’autotraduction et insiste sur la notion de double : double activité mentale, double identité linguistique, double original."

To read the full abstracts and for more information on the conference, please click here

Cfp: Self-translation and Power. Negotiating Identities in Multilingual Contexts in Europe

Call for Papers for chapters and contributions to the collection of essays edited by Olga Castro, Sergi Mainer and Svetlana Skomorokhova. Deadline for proposals: 1 March 2014.

[...] The forthcoming collection of essays Self-Translation and Power: Negotiating Identities in European Multilingual Contexts seeks to contribute to current debates on self-translation by placing an emphasis on the role of power within it and by opening new avenues of enquiry to encompass different milieus in Europe. [...] Given their double affiliation as authors and translators, self-translators are placed in a privileged position to problematize power and to scrutinise minorized/peripheral and hegemonic/central cultural identities. Self-Translation and Power: Negotiating Identities in European Multilingual Contexts aims to explore the self-translators’ powerful role as cultural and ideological mediators between languages and literatures of disparate status in Europe from interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches.

Suggested topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Power relations between translations and self-translations
- Self-translator as an Empowered Translator
- Conflicting ideologies in self-translation
- (In)visibility in self-translation
- Language politics: diglossia, bilingualism, multilingualism
....

Language of the Publication: The language of the publication is English.
Timeline:
Deadline for submitting proposals: 1 March 2014
Notifications of provisional acceptance will be sent by: 15 April 2014
Deadline for submitting full articles: 15 December 2014

To read the full Call for papers, please click here.

"Je suis un autre: Authorship in Self-Translation"

Self-translation was a topic at the 7th Translation Studies Conference in Portugal, Faculty of Letters, University of Lisbon, 24–25.10. 2013.

Here is an extract of the abstract of the talk “Je suis un autre: Authorship in Self-Translation. Notes on Migration, Metamorphosis & Translation” given by Alexandra Lopes:

"This paper aims to critically engage with Schleiermacher’s arguments, reflecting on their import to understanding the meanders of self-translation. Taking Schleiermacher’s views on the ideal comprehension model for translation as a starting point, I examine the work of a German-born immigrant writer and translator in Portugal: Ilse Losa (1913-2006). My paper focuses particularly on Losa’s 1962 novel Sob Céus Estranhos [Under Strange Skies], which she later translated into German under the title Unter fremden Himmeln. In my paper, I discuss Schleiermacher’s dictum that the translator must be ‘conscious of the difference between that language [the source language] and his own’ [ibidem], and argue that difference is not necessarily a category of the Other, as it visibly inhabits the contemporary displaced self. As Rushdie famously put it in ‘Imaginary Homelands’, the identity of the migrant ‘is at once plural and partial’ (1991:15). Thus, what Losa’s narrative brings to the fore is the complex web of relations between self and language, self and other(s), creativity and defamiliarization, authorship and translationship, and showcasing the often unacknowledged fact that translatability and translatedness inhabit the creative gesture." 

For more information on the conference and to read the complete abstract, please click here.

Conference: La traduction, médiation et médiatisation des cultures

Self-translation will be a topic at the conference: La traduction, médiation et médiatisation des cultures (21-22.11.13) taking place at the University Orléans, France.

Bernardo Toro (Écrivain): Écriture et auto-traduction 

Evelio Miñano (Université de Valencia) : Auto-traduction et médiation dans l’univers littéraire de Jorge Semprún 

To see the full program, please click here.

Conference: Translating European Languages

Self-translation will be a topic at the conference Translating European Languages.History, Ideology and Censorship taking place 01-02.11.2013 in Oxford.

Olga Castro (Aston): The politics of self-translation in multilingual contemporary Spain: conflicting ideologies and peripheral literatures

To see the full program, please click here.

On issues of self-translation and bilingual writing

Bilingual writer Carmen Rodriguez will give a talk about her bilingual writing with the title: "I believe in reincarnation: On issues of self-translation and bilingual writing" in Oslo, Norway, on 28.10.2013 at 14:15 - 16:00. Rodriguez writes in English and Spanish.

For more information, please click here.

Update Bibliography on self-translation

The new update of the bibliography on self-translation includes over 50 new entries. To download the bibliography please click here.

Bilingual writing and self-translation

Isabel del Rio has written a short essay about writing her latest bilingual book of short stories Zero Negative – Cero negativo in both English and Spanish:

"And so each of the 16 short stories include a version in English and a version in Spanish. I would not call it self-translation, as both versions could and should be considered original stories. In fact, sometimes both versions were written simultaneously."

To read the full essay by Isabel del Rio please click here.

Self-Translation in Two Movements

An essay on self-translation by Geneviève Robichaud, where she also talks about the experience of translating herself:

"If the act of self-translation is a creative one, then perhaps it is more apt to speak of two versions, each one furthering the other. This was true of the writing process itself where the Chiac version sent me to the English version to perform certain changes; this bouncing back and forth, a form of collaboration not present in other kinds of translations, shows that the language of original and target text are less than apt terms."

Don't miss to click on the slide-show above the article.

To read the complete essay please click here.

Cfp: De l'éthique à la censure

APPEL A CONTRIBUTION

De l’éthique à la censure : les contraintes en traduction et en traductologie

13^e édition de l’Odyssée de la traductologie; Association étudiante des cycles supérieurs en traduction; Université Concordia, Montréal, Québec, Canada

L’Association étudiante des cycles supérieurs en traduction de l’Université Concordia est heureuse de vous inviter à la 13^e édition de son colloque étudiant : l’Odyssée de la traductologie, qui se tiendra le 27 mars 2014. [...]

Voici quelques questions, parmi tant d’autres, qui pourraient être explorées : [...]

Aspects sociologiques

·       L’autotraduction : auteur ou traducteur. Les particularités et les contraintes propres à l’étude de ce phénomène.

[...]  Le temps alloué à chaque communication sera d’environ 20 minutes, et sera suivi d’une période de questions de 10 minutes. Les propositions devront être rédigées en français ou en anglais. Chaque proposition devra inclure un résumé d’environ 200 mots. Veuillez soumettre votre proposition au plus tard le 1er décembre 2013 par courriel (tradgraduate@concordia.ca), en prenant soin d’indiquer votre nom, adresse, université et programme d’études et d’inclure une courte biobibliographie. 

To read the full call for papers, please click here.

RMMLA Annual Convention

Self-translation will be a topic at the RMMLA Annual Convention, taking place in Vancouver, Washington, USA, 10-12.10.2013.

Otilia G. Baraboi: Cioran and Beckett: Cultural Performativity and Poetics of Self-Translation.

To see the full program, please click here.

Multilingual writers: a blind spot in translation studies

A talk given by Reine Meylaerts on multilingual writers, in which she also discusses self-translation, has been published on the website of the research group Translation  & Paratranslation.

To see the video, please click here.

Conference: Vassilis Alexakis et les langues

The conference "Vassilis Alexakis et les langues" will take place from 26-27.09.2013 in Amiens, France. Vassilis Alexakis will also be present. There will be at least two talks about his self-translations on Thursday:

• 15h00  Ina Berger: "Auto-traduction ou la métamorphose perpétuelle de l’original chez Vassilis Alexakis- Défi pour la traduction allographe" 
• 15h30 Maria Recuenco Penalver: "Depuis Les Girls du City Boum-Boum jusqu’au Premier Mot: A propos de l’évolution de l’auto-traduction alexakienne"

To see the full program, please click here.

And since this is after all a personal blog: 

Girls, I wish time and money would allow me to be with you at the conference. I know you two will do great! Tons of luck and tell me all about it!

Jen Minkman: Self-translation & Self-publishing

Jen Minkman (*1978) has self-translated her novel Shadow Time from Dutch into English.:

"[T]he chances of being translated into English as a Dutch writer are very, very slim. So I decided to translate my books myself so I could reach a wider audience of readers worldwide. Since most of the Anglophone publishing world works with agents, I chose to self-publish because that would be a quicker way to get my book on the market." (Word Vagabond 2013)

Self-translation has been a good experience for her and she especially appreciates the possibility to improve her novel while translating it:

"I am planning to translate each and every book I write from now on. Not only is it a good way to get known across the border, it is also a very good method to revise your own manuscripts. When you’re translating a story, sometimes you suddenly realize that certain dialogues or scenes just don’t work, so you cut them out or change them."  (Word Vagabond 2013)

To read the full interview with Jen Minkman on World Vagabond, please click here.

Self-Translation in the Iberian Peninsula, 20-21 September 2013 Cork, Ireland

The conference programme is now available online.

Atelier de recherche de traduction Marseille 19-20.09.2013

Self-translation will be a topic at the Atelier de recherche de traduction which is taking place from 19.-20.09.2013 in Marseille, France:

16h00: Eric Robertson, Poésie bilingue et auto-traduction: l’accueil de l’étranger

For more information on the conference, please click here.

Journée d’études : "Écrire entre les langues / écrire en langues"

Self-translation will be at topic at the Journée d’études : "Écrire entre les langues / écrire en langues", 08.11.2013 in Paris:

12.20-12.45 Christian Estrade: Écriture et autotraduction chez Copi

Place: Salons de l'INALCO Escalier C, deuxième étage 2 rue de Lille, 75007 Paris Métros : Saint-Germain des Prés, Musée d'Orsay
For more information on the conference, please click here.

"L'inventeur de l'amour de Gherasim Luca : genèse d'une auto-traduction"

Susanna Spero (ITEM) will give a talk with the title "L'inventeur de l'amour de Gherasim Luca : genèse d'une auto-traduction" on 18.10.2013 in Paris.
Place: CNRS, 59/61 rue Pouchet 75017 Paris, salle 159 (1er étage) M° Brochant ou M° Guy Moquet
For more information, please click here.

Asli Perker: " I now translate all my novels into English"

Asli Perker (*1975) has self-translated her latest novel Soufflé (2013) from Turkish into English. It was her first self-translation, but not her last:

“I don't know how or why I came up with the idea, but I now translate all my novels into English. It’s such a long process, but it really helps me get the feeling right.”

Please click here to read the full interview.

Sinan Antoon: "When I translate my own material I give myself some more freedom."

Sinan Antoon (*1967) is an Iraqui poet and novelist, who lives in the United States. He writes in Arabic and English and has translated his own poems and novels:

"I write in both languages, so I have poems written in English, in addition to the ones I translate from Arabic myself. My novel is available in English as well and has been translated to five languages."

"When I translate my own material I give myself some more freedom. Meaning since I am the author, I can change a few things if need be."

To read the full interview with Aslı Iğsız, please click here.

Evan Fallenberg: "I cannot and will not ever be able to translate my own work."

Author and translator Evan Fallenberg decided against self-translating his novels into Hebrew, because he doesn't think his linguistic skills would be good enough:

"As good as my Hebrew is, I came to the language too late for it to feel natural when I write in it. And if I can't write in Hebrew, I can't translate."

However he is looking forward to see his novels being translated into Hebrew and to collaborate in the process:

"One day I hope to see my own works translated into Hebrew and other languages. I look forward to being involved in that process, much as I have sat and pondered words and sentences with the authors I've translated."

To read the full interview conducted by Ann Hagman Cardinal in 2008, please click here

Cfp Translation in Russian Contexts: Transcultural, Translingual and Transdisciplinary Points of Departure

An International Conference at the Uppsala Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies

Uppsala University, Sweden, 2-7 June 2014

[...] The conference will also explore the phenomena of translingualism and transculturality in relation to various practices and theoretical conceptions of translation. [...] We invite proposals for 20-minute papers dealing with the following topics related to Russian contexts:

• ...
• Diaspora Contexts: Self-Translation and Translingual Russian Literature

Proposal submission

Abstracts of 200 words and a short bio should be sent to: julie.hansen@ucrs.uu.se & susanna.witt@ucrs.uu.se.

Include your title, affiliation and email address. The deadline for submissions is 1 November 2013. After the conference, a peer reviewed volume of articles based on selected papers will be published.

Conference Co-chairs

Dr. Julie Hansen, Uppsala University (julie.hansen@ucrs.uu.se)

Dr. Susanna Witt, Uppsala University (susanna.witt@ucrs.uu.se)

www.ucrs.uu.se

To read the full call for papers, please click here

7th EST Congress 2013

Self-translation will be a topic at the 7th EST Congress, taking place from August 29-September 1, 2013 in Germersheim, Germany.
To read the booklet of abstracts, please click here.

Friday, August 30
Maud Gonne: A Peripheral Practice or/and a Prominent Transfer Activity? Self-Translations within Asymmetrical Cultural Spaces

Excerpt of the abstract:
The analysis of ST practices within the heterogeneous capital of Belgium by Georges Eekhoud (1854-1927), officially a Flemish writer using French as literary language and, less officially, a multilingual polygraph and anonymous self-translator of serialized novels in the popular press, will provide a survey of
1) the range of social factors involved in the process of ST (cultural, relational, institutional, economic, political, etc.);
2) the particularity of ST with regards to ‘normal translation’ in asymmetrical contexts and its methodological and theoretical consequences for Translation Studies. Simultaneously, the paper will consider the marginalization of ST by critics and by the writers themselves, resulting in the reinforcement of “western models in which monolingualism, rather than multilingualism, is the norm” (Shread 2009:54);
3) the complex and specific hybridity of bilingual actors and the cultural configurations that produced them;
4) the possible implications of ST as transfer activity in the process of national culture building (affirmation, problematization, rejection).

Tessa Lobbes, Reine Meylaerts: Translation and Its Others: Intercultural Transfer in Multilingual Cultures

Excerpt of the abstract:
In accordance with the purpose of this panel, the present paper wants to increase the understanding of the relationship between translation and other transfer techniques and “to reconstruct the interrelations between different techniques and between transfer techniques, their carriers and their agents” (D’hulst 2012: 150).
In this paper the complex forms of intercultural transfer activities will be examined by scrutinizing the mediating activities of an intercultural mediator living in the multilingual culture of Belgium during the interwar period, namely Gaston Pulings (1885-1941). Pulings was a poet, translator, self-translator, multilingual writer, publisher, art critic, literary critic, theatre critic and art animator who lived in the multilingual cosmopolitan city of Brussels.

To read the complete abstracts, please click here.

Marine Petrossian: "I decided to translate my poems into English myself"

Interesting interview conducted by Jill McCoy with the Armenian poet Mariane Petrossian, who learned French in order to appreciate the French translations of her poems and was shocked by the result:

And then, fluent enough in the language, I started reading my poems translated into French and was shocked! The texts were quite different from the ones I had written. The translator had changed the tone of my poems, making them more “poetic”. This is how it happened that I decided to translate my poems into English myself.

To read the full interview, please click here.

AILC 2013 Paris: Abstracts

Several talks on self-translation are presented at the XXe Congrès de l’Association Internationale de Littérature Comparée / XXth Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association taking place from 19.07-24.7.2013 in Paris

Abstract of the conference talk by Jordana M. Greenblatt on Nathanaël:
"L'Entre-Nathanaël, le désir: Nathanaël (Nathalie Stephen)'s Queer Self-Translation"

Nathanaël (published as Nathalie Stephens) self-describes as writing "l'entre-genre." Indeed, Nathanaël writes between many things. Some French, some English, Nathanaël's texts are never entirely either; while one language generally predominates, the other almost always intervenes. Je Nathanaël, originally (mostly) French, exists under the same title in English as a work of self-translation. While the expressive and erotic potential and failures of language/s are regular foci of Nathanaël's work, the act of translation heightens these moments of comparative tension between languages and between language and/as desire. [...]


Abstract of the conference talk by Lyudmila Razumova on Huston /Makine
"What Language(s) Will World Literature(s) Speak?"

Authors, who chose to write in an acquired language or in both their L1 and L2, have problematized and shaped models of national and transnational affiliation in language. The paper will examine how writing bilingually, especially in major, supra-national languages (English, Russian, French) relates to such notions as world literature and littérature –monde en français. [...]The paper will focus on the cases of Andrei Makine and Nancy Huston, francophones by choice, who often return to their home countries thematically, but otherwise pursue very different trajectories. For instance, Huston started self-translating nearly all her work, while Makine relies on other translators. [...]


Abstract of the conference talk by Anastasija Gjurcinova
"Translation and Self-translation in Today's Migration Literature"

Today’s migration literature in Europe is a phenomenon that offers many new opportunities for comparative literature research. The idea of this paper is to examine whether migrant authors use to write in their mother tongue, and then translate (or get translated) their works into the language of adoption, or whether they prefer writing their literary works directly in the adopted language, performing a very particular way of self-translation. Those topics are going to be elaborated using the examples from several Italian migrant authors, such as the Algerian Amara Lakhous, the Albanian Gezim Hajdari and the Bosnian Bozidar Stanisic. [...]


Abstract of the conference talk by Wen-chin Ouyang
"Speaking to Multilingualism of the Reader"

Haifa Zangana’s prison memoirs have taken shape in the interstices of writing, translation and rewriting in a period of twenty-three years. [...] A comparative analysis of these texts shows that self-translation, as a way of engaging with the multilingualism of the reader, is an integral part of writing. This, especially the slippage of multilingualism between writerly and readerly texts, must have an impact on the interpretive process. [...]


Abstract of the conference talk by  F. Vosloo
"Translating the Abject: Antjie Krog as Writer-Translator"

[...] This paper addresses the notion of self-translation as “the writer’s double” (Wilson 2009), looking into self-translation as textual and cultural translation – an integral part in the construction of identity and subjectivity. Internationally acclaimed South African author and poet Antjie Krog writes in Afrikaans, her mother tongue, translates her own work into English and translates others’ work (Dutch and Flemish) into Afrikaans. [...]


Abstract from the conference talk by Loredana Polezzi
"From Neo-Realism to Self-Translation: The Novels of Giose Rimanelli" 

[...] After migrating to America, Rimanelli continued to write in an apparently similar vein. Yet starting at least from the 1970s his work abandoned realist models, favouring instead explicit (and often extreme) forms of generic hybridity and polylingualism, bordering on glossolalia and posited on practices of self-translation. [...]


To read the full abstracts, please click here.

Self-Translation in Drama Asymptote: Interview with Chantel Bilodeau

Bilodeau on self-translation: "I am not convinced I would do it again"

The July issue of Asymptote journal has a special feature on self-translation which includes an interview with the Canadian playwright Chantel Bilodeau conducted by Caridad Svich. The interview focuses on her play Pleasure & Pain which she translated herself from English into French.
Chantel Bilodeau describes the difficulties she encountered while translating her own play: "I felt like a hamster running around and around in a wheel but never getting anywhere".  To read the full interview, please click here.

14th update of the bibliography on self-translation

The 14th update of the bibliography on self-translation, which includes over 80 new entries, is now available.

I would like to kindly ask you to leave the bibliographic references as a comment on this post, when you give a talk, publish an article or even a book on self-translation, so that the bibliography can be as complete as possible. To download the bibliography, please click here.

ACLA 2013 Paris

Several talks on self-translation are announced for the XXe Congrès de l’Association Internationale de Littérature Comparée / XXth Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association taking place from 19.07-24.7.2013 in Paris.

• A. Gjurcinova: "Translation and Self-translation in Today's Migration Literature"
• J. Greenblatt: "L'Entre-Nathanaël, le désir: Nathanaël (Nathalie Stephen)'s Queer Self-Translation"
•  L. Polezzi: "From Neo-Realism to Self-Translation: The Novels of Giose Rimanelli"
• L. Roesler: "Réticence et réserves ? Traduction et auto-traduction d'Yves Bonnefoy"
• J. Wilhelm: "Le paradigme de l'auto-traduction"

To see the full program, please click here.

To go to the conference website, please click here.

Rachid Mansoum: "Je n'aime pas traduire mes textes..."

Rachid Mansoum was born in 1970 at Marrakech. He is a poet and a translator and writes his poetry in French and Arabic, but prefers to be translated by someone else:

"Je n'aime pas traduire mes textes car il m'est difficile de m'auto traduire. J'aime que quelqu'un d'autre qui n'est pas moi, prenne cette initiative. Je sens qu'il y a un malaise dans cet acte d'auto traduction. C'est un acte où il y a quelque chose de narcissique et de monstrueux. C'est mieux d'avoir un regard extérieur sur son texte." (Débat avec l'auteur, Institut Français Marrakech 2008, published by Editions Harmattan.)

To read the full interview in French, please click here.

Cfp: Médiateurs culturels en Europe 1750-1950

Les groupes de recherche Traduction et transfert interculturel et Histoire culturelle depuis 1750 de la KU Leuven organisent, du 5 au 7 juin 2014, à Leuven (Belgique) un colloque international sur les « Médiateurs culturels en Europe entre 1750 et 1950 ».

Main topic: l’étude du rôle des agents ou médiateurs culturels en relation avec la construction des cultures internationales, nationales et urbaines en Europe au cours des deux derniers siècles. Parmi ces médiateurs, on peut citer nombre d’écrivains bilingues ou plurilingues, de critiques et marchands d’art, d’auto-traducteurs, ...

Date: 05.-07. June 2014
Place: Leuven (Belgium)
Deadline for papers: 01.10.2013 (300 words, French or English)

To read the full call for papers please click here.

13th update of the bibliography on self-translation

The 13th update of the bibliography on self-translation, which includes over 50 new entries, is now available. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this update.

I would like to kindly ask you to leave the bibliographic references as a comment on this post, when you give a talk, publish an article or even a book on self-translation, so that the bibliography can be as complete as possible.

To download the bibliography, please click here.

2nd International Symposium Language and Communication

Self-translation is also a topic at the 2nd International Symposium Language and Communication. Exploring Novelties taking place 17-18 June 2013 in Izmir, Turkey.

Tuesday, 18 June 11:00 am
Veronica Razumovskaya: Self-translation as Unique Literary Translation Type: Joseph Brodsky Creative Legacy 

To see the full program, please click here.

CETRA PhD Day

Self-translation is a topic at the CETRA PhD Day on 06 June 2013 in Leuven, Belgium:
1.45 PM-3.00 PM Session 1

• Klaartje Merrigan (KU Leuven - Kulak) Construction d’éthos et poétique de l’écriture bilingue dans l’œuvre de Nancy Huston entre 1984-2002
• Nicodème Niyongabo (KU Leuven) The Politics of Self-Translation: Orality in/and English translations in African Literature

Taking place: College De Valk Tiensestraat 41, 3000 Leuven Room Zeger Van Hee (DV1.91.0056)

To see the full programm, please click here.

"Écrire en présence de toutes les langues du monde"

Journée organisée par Claire Riffard, Tristan Leperlier, Olga Anokhina

Samedi 08 juin 2013, ENS - 45 rue d'Ulm - salle Weil à Paris.

Programme

9h30   Pierre Marc de Biasi (ITEM-CNRS) :Les enjeux du multilinguisme dans l’approche
            génétique de la création littéraire.

10h00  Olga Anokhina (ITEM-CNRS) :L’impact du multilinguisme sur la création littéraire.
10h30  Discussion
10h45   Pause
11h15  Tristan Leperlier (EHESS, francophonie-ens) : Enjeux de la traduction et de
             l'autotraduction chez les écrivains algériens contemporains
11h45  Karolina Resztak (francophonie-ens) : Interlangues, intertextes : hypothèses sur la
             genèse d'une oeuvre à l'exemple de L.S.D, de Djamel Mati.
12h15  Discussion
12h45  DÉJEUNER
14h30  Claire Riffard (ITEM-CNRS) : Genèse bilingue de la poésie de Jean-Joseph
              Rabearivelo
15h00  Cécile Jest (Université de Cergy-Pontoise): AnandaDevi, une écrivaine
             mauricienne au cœur des langues.
15h30  Discussion
16h00  Emilio Sciarrino (Université Paris 3) : Poésies plurilingues en Italie, de la genèse
              à la réception (Rosselli, Sanguineti)
16h30  DISCUSSION et CLOTURE

Please click here for more information.

Autotraducción: Puig and Dorfman

Prof. Dr. Ilse Logie (Universiteit Gent, Belgien) will give a talk about Puig and Dorfman at the university Erlangen, Germany on 12.06.2013 at 6pm with the title: Autotraducción, exilio y metamorfosis identitaria. Dos case studies del Cono Sur: Manuel Puig y Ariel Dorfman.

For more information. please click here

New: L'Autotraduction aux frontières de la langue et de la culture

The conference proceedings of the Perpignan conference on self-translation (2011) have now been published.  The volume edited by Christian Lagarde and Helena Tanqueiro  includes 27 articles on self-translation written in French, English, Spanish or Catalan. The volume is divided into four sections:
I. Quelle place pour l’autotraduction ?
II. L’autotraduction comme outil d’autodéfinition
III. Autotraduction et réécriture
IV. Des jeux et enjeux complexes

To see the index of contents, please click here.

L'Autotraduction aux frontières de la langue et de la culture
edited by Christian Lagarde and Helena Tanqueiro
Editions Lambert Lucas
280 pages
34 Euro
ISBN : 9782359350753
http://www.lambert-lucas.com/autotraduction-aux-frontieres-de

Orbis Litterarum Special issue on self-translation

The June issue of Orbis litterarum focuses on self-translation. The long awaited volume has been edited by Michael Boyden and Liesbeth De Bleeker and includes the following contributions:

• Rainier Grutman: Beckett and Beyond Putting Self-Translation in Perspective (pages 188–206)
• Steven G. Kellman: Writing South and North Ariel Dorfman's Linguistic Ambidexterity (pages 207–221)
• Michael Boyden and Lieve Jooken: A Privileged Voice? J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur's “History of Andrew, the Hebridean” in French and Dutch Translation (pages 222–250) 
• Désirée Schyns: L’étranger intimement connu. L'autotraduction et la traduction par un tiers de Plainsong–Cantique des plaines de Nancy Huston (pages 251–265) 
• Eva Gentes: Potentials and Pitfalls of Publishing Self-Translations as Bilingual Editions (pages 266–281)

The articles are preceded by a panoramic introduction by Michael Boyden and Liesbeth De Bleeker highlightning the main ideas of each article. The volume closes with a rejoinder by Susan Bassnett.

Cfp: L'auto-traduction. Une perspective sociolinguistique

GLOTTOPOL Revue de sociolinguistique en ligne
special issue on self-translation edited by Christian Lagarde to be published in january 2015
Language: French

Date limite de réception des contributions : 30 avril 2014
Envoi des contributions à : glottopol@univ-rouen.fr et chrislag09@gmail.com
Consignes pour la remise des textes : voir http://www.univ-rouen.fr/dyalang/glottopol
Date de parution : janvier 2015


Le traitement de l’autotraduction sous l’angle sociolinguistique est rarement envisagé, dans la bibliographie existante, en tant que tel. C’est la raison pour laquelle, à travers des études de cas (portant sur des auteurs et/ou des territoires) ou sous forme de perspectives plus générales, nous envisagerons la production et la réception d’œuvres autotraduites et/ou l’itinéraire personnel et créateur de leurs auteurs, selon différents types de configurations sociolinguistiques et des terrains (régions, pays ou continents) variés....


To read the full call for papers please click here.

Conference in Chile

Self-translation will be a topic at the conference “Literatura Comparada en las Américas: Itinerarios, pertenencia y diálogos” at the University Adolfo Ibáñez from 15- 16 May 2013 in Chile.

Here is the list of contributions on self-translation:

16 May 2013 at 9.30-10.50am
Mesa 1: Autotraducción 1
Modera: Miguel Lopatín, UAI.
1. “Jorge Luis Borges y la autotraducción poética. Un caso interesante” Lila Bujaldón de Esteves, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo.
2. “Autotraducción y poesía. Reflexiones teóricas y un caso de estudio: la obra de Francesca Lo Bue” María Troiano de Echegaray, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo.
3. “Ser leales al cielo. Cosmopolitismo y lengua española en JL Borges” Alejandro Fielbaum, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez/ Universidad de Chile

16 May 2013 at 11.30-12.50am
Mesa 3: Autotraducción 2
Modera: Isabel Ringeling, UAI.
1. “Traducción multilingüe y autotraducción como modelos textuales para los Villancicos de la Asunción (1676) de Sor Juana”. Belén Bistué, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo.
2. “Ada María Elflein (1880-1919) traduce sus cuentos al alemán”. Claudia Garnica de Bertona, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo.
3. “Acerca de la traducción de algunos clásicos de Grecia y Roma en la Argentina del siglo XIX”. María Guadalupe Barandica, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo.

16 May 2013 at 15.00-16.40am
Mesa 5: Traducción y multilingüismo
Modera: Paula Escobar, UAI.
1. “ La autotraducción como práctica ch’ixi en la actual literatura originaria latinoamericana: El caso de la poesía de Elicura Chihuailaf”. Melisa Stocco, U. Nacional de Cuyo.
2. “Exilio y auto-traducción en la narrativa testimonial concentracionaria argentina. El caso de The Little School: Tales of Disappearance & Survival in Argentina, de Alicia Partnoy (1986)” Paula Simón, U. Nacional de Cuyo.

To see the full programm please click here

Bibliography on self-translation update

The 12th update of the bibliography on self-translation, which includes over 50 new entries, is now available. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this update.

I would like to kindly ask you to leave the bibliographic references as a comment on this post, when you give a talk, publish an article or even a book on self-translation, so that the bibliography can be as complete as possible.

To download the bibliography, please click here.

Adelbert von Chamisso als Selbstübersetzer

Caroline Gerlach-Berthaud will give a talk about "Adelbert von Chamisso als Selbstübersetzer" at the second international conference on Adelbert von Chamisso taking place from 29. – 31.05.2013 at the Humboldt University at Berlin, Germany.

To see the full program, please click here.

Novelist Ananda Devi speaks about "Bilingualism and Self-translation"

Mauritius novelist Ananda Devi will give a talk on "Bilingualism and Self-translation" on 01.05.2013 at the University of California, Santa Barbara, at 4:00 pm in Phelps 6320.

For more information, please click here.

Interview with Linda Olsson

Linda Olsson is an acclaimed novelist and Swedish-English self-translator. She was born in Stockholm in 1948, but settled down in New Zealand in 1990. Today she divides her time between Sweden and New Zealand. Her novels have been translated into many languages. She has written her first two novels Astrid & Veronika (2007) and Sonata for Miriam (2008) in English. In an interview on the website of her publisher Penguin, she explains why she hasn’t translated these two books herself:

When my book was published in Sweden, I did not translate the book to Swedish myself. I made an attempt, but quickly realized that I was rewriting, rather than translating. For me, it felt as if the story I had written could not just be translated word by word, but that a Swedish version needed other, different expressions. I am enormously grateful that my translator was able to do what I could not. 

However since her third novel The kindness of your nature (2011) / Det goda inom dig (2011) she writes the English and Swedish versions of her book simultaneously. I had the chance to meet her last year at a public reading in Germany and she kindly agreed to conduct an interview with me via mail to explain her approach to translation and self-translation. What follows now is the interview, which we conducted in November 2012 via mail.

E.G.: You started writing fiction in English in New Zealand and your books have been translated into many languages, among others also into your mother tongue Swedish. How was this experience to read your own books in Swedish?

L.O.: It was with a degree of trepidation that I started reading the first translation, especially since that translator had made it clear that she didn’t want much in the way of communication with me. But all my concerns were quickly laid to rest. And when I read the book for the audio recording, there were just a few words that didn’t feel right in my mouth.

E.G.: Did you recognize your own voice? 

L.O.: Yes, I believe I did, as I said above, all I changed was the odd word here and there. And I think that the translator made parts of my text even better.

E.G.: While you haven’t translated your first two books yourself, everything changed with your third book – The kindness of your nature/Det goda inom dig–, which you wrote simultaneously in English and Swedish. How did this happen? 

L.O.: I had a bad case of writer’s block and someone suggested I should translate what I had written to Swedish, instead of just sitting staring at my screen. And soon, after starting the translation, I found myself back in the story and started writing again. I bought a large screen that allowed me to keep both versions open, side by side, and I continued working on the two versions of the manuscript simultaneously.

E.G.: And how did this bilingual writing shape your way of creating and writing? How are writing and translating interacting with each other? 

L.O.: I am not sure I can answer this question. All I can say is that the process worked for me. I do, however, think that the two versions influenced each other. I often found myself changing phrases or whole paragraphs in one version after finishing it in the other language. Neither would have been the same, had I written it exclusively.

E.G.: What are the advantages and the disadvantages of working with both languages at the same time?

L.O.: The obvious disadvantage is time, of course. It takes twice the time to finish the story. Also, I think there is a risk that you become engrossed in linguistic issues, and that these take over from the creative writing. The technique of writing obscures the flow of the creativity. Also, sometimes, I found that linguistic problems in one language forced me to make changes in what I had already written in the other language. A professional translator is stuck with the given text, but I had more freedom, which sometimes felt like a restriction, if you understand what I mean. If I couldn’t easily translate my own words I felt obliged to rewrite the original, rather than struggle to find a way of translating it. The advantage is that the process works as a simultaneous editing process. I found myself picking up mistakes and flaws that might otherwise have gone undetected. Also, and this was the reason I ended up doing what I did, the two stimulated and inspired each other. An idea that I realised in one language, may not have appeared had I been restricted to the other language.

E.G.: Are you going to keep self-translating your books? 

L.O.: I am not sure. But what I have written on my next novel, I have written in both languages…

E.G.: Do you think your relation with your Swedish readers will change now that you are writing directly in Swedish? 

L.O.: Possibly. For me, because I now feel responsibility for the Swedish text. For my readers, perhaps, if they relate better or not so well to my Swedish language. Many, though, were not aware that my previous books were translated from English.

E.G.: Thank you very much, Linda Olsson, for sharing these insights with us.

To learn more about Linda Olsson, please visit her wonderful official website, which already gives you a hint of her beautiful writing.

Bibliography

Penguin Group USA.  A conversation with Linda Olsson. Online available. Also archived with webcitation.

Program Conference: Translators and (Their) Authors in Tel-Aviv

The program for the conference "Translators and (Their) Authors" to be held in Tel-Aviv University 7-8 May 2013 is now available. Very interesting talks, I wish I could go there....
There will be several talks about self-translation:

• Patricia Godbout (University of Sherbrooke): Writing, translation and reading in E.D. Blodgett’s Le poème invisible/The invisible poem
• Amalia Ran: “Contaminated” texts: Sergio Waisman’s work as self-translating author
• Maud Gonne (University of Leuven): Self-translation and overlap of agent roles in early 20th century Belgium: a matter of prestige

To see the full program, please click here.

Conference In All Languages: Translingual Cultural Production

Self-translation will be a topic at the conference In All Languages: Translingual Cultural Production, taking place at the University of Wollongong, Monday 22nd –Tuesday 23rd April 2013:

• Jorge Salavert: “Literary translation and literary self-translation: a translingual perspective”

To see the full draft program, please click here.

Cfp: Asymptote special issue on playwrights and self-translation

Asymptote is a new international journal dedicated to literary translation and they are planning a special issue on playwrights and self-translation. Here is their very promising call for papers:

"For our first special feature in the July 2013 issue, we invite submissions of drama by playwrights who translate their own work from their native language into another language and/or who co-translate their own work from their native language into another language and vice versa, as well as writings on the subject of theatrical translation from the perspective of ex-patriation, re-located citizenship or multiple citizenships. How does an author translate herself? What are the processes of creating multiple versions of the same text? If the author is translating themselves, what insights are there into the process of creating drama - which is already a process that involves multiple layers of translation of cultural practice, theatrical methodologies, and negotiation with potential audience and readership reception - via the authorial site of origin, however contested it may be (i.e. can origin be located?) Deadline: 1 Jun 2013"

Click here to visit their website or their facebook page.

Conference: Translators and (Their) Authors in Tel-Aviv

Self-translation is among the suggested topics of the conference "Translators and (Their) Authors" to be held in Tel-Aviv University 7-8 May 2013. Unfortunately the deadline for submission for abstracts has already expired. For more information on the conference, please click here.

New update bibliography on self-translation

The 11th update of the bibliography on self-translation, which includes over 60 new entries, is now available. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this update.

I would like to kindly ask you to leave the bibliographic references as a comment on this post, when you give a talk, publish an article or even a book on self-translation, so that the bibliography can be as complete as possible.

To download the bibliography, please click here.

Rilke and self-translation

Eugenia Kelbert is giving a talk about the German-French self-translator Rilke with the title: "Parallel" Rilke and the natural course of self-translation  at the university in Oslo, Norway.

When?: 02. April 2013 at 14:15 - 16:00
Where? Meeting room 12th floor Niels Treschows hus, Oslo, Norway

To read the abstract and for more information, please click here.

Mending the broken language?

Self-translation will be a topic at the conference Mending the broken language? Die gebrochene Sprache heilen? which will take place 18 & 19 April 2013 in Leuven, Belgium:

18. April 2013 at 01.00 pm:
Stefan Willer: Treue zum eigenen Text? Zur Pragmatik der Selbstübersetzung

To take a look at the full program, please click here.

L'année 1936: Ilarie Voronca

Self-translation was a topic at the conference "L'année 1936 Traductions et retraductions vers le français" taking place this weekend at Tours, France.

22.03.2013:  17 h 15 Muguraş Constantinescu (Université Ştefan cel Mare, Suceava / Roumanie) :
"Traduction et autotraduction d'Ilarie Voronca vers le français autour de l'année 1936"

To see the full programm please click here.

CFP: Self-Translation in the Iberian Peninsula

The second call for papers for the conference in Ireland in now available on the conference website.

Confirmed keynote speakers include:
Xosé Manuel Dasilva, Universidade de Vigo
Unai Elorriaga, Basque writer, self-translator and translator

Deadline for proposals: 31 May 2013

Interview with Bernardo Atxaga

The blog Don de Lenguas del Departamento de Traducción e Interpretación de la Universidad de Salamanca  has published an interview with the Basque writer Bernardo Atxaga about his self-translations. The interview is conducted in Spanish.

Please click here to listen to the interview.

L’autotraduction en France au Moyen Age

Self-translation will be a topic at the 8th International Conference on Professional Communication and Translation Studies, 4-5 April 2013. Timişoara:

• Ileana Neli.Eiben,  “L’autotraduction en France au Moyen Age et sa portée sur la formation de la langue française”. 

Please click here to see the preliminary program of the conference.

Overview conferences 2013

So far I published 3 call for papers for conferences in 2013 with self-translation as a possible topic, the most important being "Self-Translation in the Iberian Peninsula" so far. So here is a quick overview. All conference are taking place in September 2013.

Title: Bearing Across: Translating Literary Narratives of Migration

Date: 16.09.2013-17.09.2013

Place: Brussels, Erasmus University College of Brussels, Department of Applied Linguistics, Centre for Literary Translation

Conference language: English

Conference fee: 60 Euros

Publication: Planned

Deadline: 13.03.2013 (250 word abstracts and a 150 word bio)

Call for papers: Please click here.

Title: Self-Translation in the Iberian Peninsula

Date: 20-21 September 2013

Place: University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

Conference language: English (?)

Publication: planned for selected papers

Deadline: 31.05.13 (200-word abstract of your proposed 20-minute paper or 3-people panel)

Call for papers: Please click here.

Title: Vassilis Alexakis et les langues : le mot dans tous ses états

Date: 26 et 27 septembre 2013 

Place: Amiens, France

Conference language: French (?)

Deadline: 30 avril 2013 (résumé de 150 à 200 mots)

Call for papers: Please click here.

CfP: Vassilis Alexakis et les langues : le mot dans tous ses états

Appel à contribution

Après la journée d’étude Vassilis Alexakis organisée par le CERR/CERCLL le 25 novembre 2011, les participants à cette rencontre ont émis le souhait de prolonger la réflexion dans le cadre d’un colloque international qui se déroulera sur deux jours à Amiens les 26 et 27 septembre 2013 à Amiens en présence du romancier.

Si les problématiques de l’exil littéraire, de la quête de l’identité de l’exilé ou du bilinguisme littéraire ont déjà fait l’objet de publications et de colloques, le cas d’Alexakis a été rarement évoqué dans ces ouvrages. Le romancier grec s’inscrit pourtant dans la lignée d’auteurs tels que Samuel Becket, Vladimir Nabokov ou Joseph Conrad qui ont choisi à un moment où à un autre de leur carrière littéraire, d’écrire dans une langue étrangère.

Plus récemment, sans compter les écrivains francophones issus de la colonisation, pour lesquels le français fut souvent imposé, on peut citer par exemple Agota Kristof, Nancy Huston, Milan Kundera, Jonathan Littell ou Andreï Makine. Pour Alexakis, le choix du français s’est fait de façon libre et délibérée : il faut rappeler que le romancier est venu en France grâce à une bourse qui lui a permis d’étudier le journalisme à Lille pendant trois ans. C’est la dictature des colonels de 1967 à 1974 qui a motivé son choix de revenir en France après ses études et de s’y établir. L’itinéraire d’Alexakis est particulièrement original dans son rapport à la langue puisqu’après trois romans publiés en français, l’auteur choisit d’écrire, soit dans sa langue maternelle, soit dans sa langue d’adoption, et de s’auto-traduire ensuite. Son bilinguisme littéraire est assez singulier, car s’il n’est pas rare de trouver des écrivains qui ont changé de langue d’écriture, peu ont fait carrière simultanément dans deux langues : leur langue maternelle et le français.

Afin de prolonger la réflexion amorcée lors de la journée d’étude du 25 novembre qui a mis l’accent sur la double culture d’Alexakis et son exil littéraire, le colloque septembre 2013 envisage une recherche autour des langues du romancier. Ainsi, les spécificités du bilinguisme littéraire d’Alexakis pourraient être explorées à travers plusieurs pistes :

• l’impossible choix entre langue d’accueil et langue maternelle
• l’auto-traduction et la production « d’œuvres jumelles »
• l’importance de la question linguistique dans l’œuvre romanesque (les mots grecs dans le texte français, le sango dans Les Mots étrangers…)
• la mémoire et le choix de la langue : le grec ou le français ?
• la poétique de l’aphorisme et de la métaphore
• Alexakis et les différents niveaux de la langue grecque : du grec ancien au démotique, le grec des îles (Tinos, Chios, Cythère…)
• les emprunts à la littérature de la Grèce ancienne (mythologie, philosophie...)
• Les jeux oulipiens chez Alexakis (notamment dans La Langue maternelle, Les Mots étrangers, le Premier Mot)
• Alexakis et les autres écrivains passeurs de frontières et de langues.

Le mot, dans tous ses états, sera donc au centre des préoccupations de ce colloque. La richesse de la prose alexakienne vient d’une certaine érudition et de l’accumulation des vocables, mais aussi de leurs sonorités : par ses références au grec, mais aussi à d’autres langues ou dialectes, Alexakis renouvelle la prose française. En raison de la spécificité de l’écriture, les problèmes de traduction dans d’autres langues pourront aussi être abordés, ainsi que la réception de l’œuvre dans différents pays.

Modalités: Les propositions de communications doivent parvenir aux responsables avant le 30 avril 2013 (résumé de 150 à 200 mots)

Contacts : Bernard Alavoine et Jacqueline Guittard, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, CERR/CERCLL

bernard.alavoine@wanadoo.fr

Url de référence : http://www.romanesque.fr/

Adresse : CERR/CERCLL Univesité de Picardie Jules Verne,Chemin du Thil,80025 AMIENS CEDEX 01

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Published on http://www.fabula.org/actualites/vassilsi-alexakidset-les-langues-le-mot-dans-tous-ses-etats_55430.phpfabula.org

CFP - Bearing Across: Translating Literary Narratives of Migration

International Conference organised by the Centre for Literary Translation at the Erasmus University College of Brussels in cooperation with the Centre for Literature, Intermediality, and Culture at the Free University of Brussels (VUB)

16.09.2013-17.09.2013, Brussels, Erasmus University College of Brussels, Department of Applied Linguistics, Centre for Literary Translation

Deadline: 13.03.2013

Bringing together scholars from different disciplines such as cultural studies, translation studies, area studies, comparative literature, and anthropology, this conference aims at providing a new understanding of migration as a theoretical concept, analytical category, and lived experience in the study of the translation of migration literature, be it by the authors themselves, or by professional translators.

Through issues such as dwelling and displacement, monolingualism and multilingualism, transnationalism and national identity, this conference seeks to investigate how the translation of narratives of migration – e.g. in German-Turkish, Dutch-Moroccan, French-Algerian, British-Indian literature – engages with and shapes the ongoing redefinition of cultural identities.

In Imaginary Homelands, Salman Rushdie describes the relationship between migration and translation as follows: “The word ‘translation’ comes, etymologically, from Latin for ‘bearing across’. Having been borne across the world, we are translated men.” (Salman Rushdie, Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-1991. London: Penguin, 1992. 17) The condition of the modern subject as a ‘translated man’ indeed seems to be that of geographical and linguistic border-crossing, between the local and the global. Translation can thus be regarded as a sequence of language practices and an existential situation of migrants dealing with dislocation. Accordingly, this conference focuses, on the one hand, on translation of literary narratives of migration as intralingual transaction – as cultural translation – that reformulates and reassesses cultural specificities in a new and often alienating way and, on the other hand, as interlingual transaction that applies processes of mediation to issues of agency and communication (cf. Doris Bachmann-Medick). Therefore, this conference focuses basically on two strands: 1. literature by migrant authors, either written in their own language, but ‘translating’ their unfamiliar surroundings, or written in the language predominant in their ‘unfamiliar surroundings’; and 2. literature, written by migrant authors, translated into the language of their actual place of residence or into any other language.

Submissions for 20-minute papers may include, but are not restricted to:
- Theoretical approaches to the concept of ‘migration’ in translation
- Political commitment and translating migration literature
- Transmission of identity and belonging in translation
- Translation of linguistic hybridity (creolisation, multilingualism, ungrammaticality)
- Self-translation and the question of migrant authors writing in adopted languages
- Significance of the literary translator in the reception of migration literature and the emergence of (alternative) literary canons
- Relationship between translator’s poetics and author’s poetics
- Translation as aesthetic and ideological adaptation

Organising Institution:
Erasmus University College of Brussels
Department of Applied Linguistics
Centre for Literary Translation

Organising Committee:
Philippe Humblé, PhD
Arvi Sepp, PhD
Gys-Walt Van Egdom, MA

Scientific Committee
Prof. dr. Elisabeth Bekers (Free University of Brussels, VUB)
Prof. dr. Hans Vandevoorde (Free University of Brussels, VUB)
Prof. dr. Dirk Vanden Berghe (Free University of Brussels, VUB)
Prof. dr. Rita Temmerman (Erasmus University College of Brussels)
Prof. dr. Ilse Logie (Ghent University)
Prof. dr. Désirée Schyns (University College Ghent)

Address:
Erasmus University College of Brussels
Department of Applied Linguistics
Pleinlaan 5
1050 Brussels
Belgium

Registration:
250 word abstracts and a 150 word bio should be submitted by 13 March, 2013 to Arvi Sepp (arvisepp@vub.ac.be) and Philippe Humblé (philippe.humble@vub.ac.be). For further information, please contact Gys-Walt Van Egdom at Gys-Walt.Van.Egdom@vub.ac.be. Graduate students are also welcome to submit their proposals and participate in the conference.

Please note there will be a conference fee of 60 Euro.

The language of the conference is English, but we encourage the use and visibility of other languages in multilingual handouts, slides, etc.

A publication of the proceedings with selected contributions in a refereed volume is planned.

Self-Translation Brokering Originality in Hybrid Culture

The new year starts with the publication of several new titles on self-translation. One certainly worth reading is the first collection with articles in English on self-translation edited by Anthony Cordingley.
The volume with the title Self-Translation Brokering Originality in Hybrid Culture covers a great variety of topics: Self-translation and Literary History, Interdisciplinary Perspectives: Sociology, Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, Post-colonial Perspectives & Cosmopolitan Identities/Texts.
While many contributors and their ideas are already well known in the research of self-translation, one contribution sounds especially interesting to me:  "Indigenization and Opacity: Self-translation in the Okinawan/Ryukyuan writings of Takara Ben and Medoruma Shun" by Mark Gibeau, as I am always curious to learn about new self-translators and the conditions under which they write and translate.

Here is the table of contents:

• Notes on Contributors 
• Introduction Anthony Cordingley 
• Part I. Self-translation and Literary History 
• 1. The Self-Translator as Rewriter Susan Bassnett 
• 2. On Mirrors, Dynamics & Self-Translations J.C. Santoyo 
• 3. History and self-translation Jan Hokenson 
• Part II. Interdisciplinary Perspectives: Sociology, Psychoanalysis, Philosophy 
• 4. A Sociological Glance at Self-Translation and Self-Translators Rainier Grutman 
• 5. The Passion of Self-Translation: A Masocritical Perspective Anthony Cordingley 
• 6. Translating Philosophy: Vilém Flusser's Practice of Multiple Self-Translation Rainer Guldin
• Part III.Post-colonial Perspectives 
• 7. Translated otherness, self-translated in-betweenness: Hybridity as medium versus hybridity as object in Anglophone African writing Susanne Klinger 
• 8.'Why bother with the original?': Self-translation and Scottish Gaelic poetry Corinna Krause 
• 9. Indigenization and Opacity: Self-translation in the Okinawan/Ryukyuan writings of Takara Ben and Medoruma Shun Mark Gibeau 
• Part IV. Cosmopolitan Identities/Texts 
• 10.Self-translation, Self-reflection, Self-derision: Samuel Beckett's Bilingual Humour Will Noonan 
• 11. Writing in Translation: A New Self in a Second Language Elin-Maria Evangelista
• 12.Between languages: metalinguistic elements in fiction and multilingual self-dialogue Aurelia Klimkiewicz 
• Bibliography Index

Anthony Cordingley (ed.) (2013): Self-Translation Brokering Originality in Hybrid Culture. Bloomsbury.  216 pp. ISBN: 9781441142894

Estudios sobre la autotraducción en el espacio ibérico

New book on self-translation in Spanish by Xosé Manuel Dasilva published by Peter Lang.
Content:

• Competencia bilingüe y autotraducción en Galicia -algunos apuntes 
• Escritura bilingüe y autotraducción 
• Follas novas/Hojas nuevas 
• Carlos Casares como autotraductor. Deus sentado nun sillón azul en castellano 
• La frontera infinita, de Celso Emilio Ferreiro, ¿traducción o nuevo original? 
• Bernardo Atxaga en gallego 
• Autotraducirse en Galicia: ¿bilingüismo o diglosia? 
• El texto autotraducido como original - Camilo J. Cela, autotraductor al gallego de La familia de Pascual Duarte 
• La autotraducción vista por los escritores gallegos 
• La autotraducción transparente y la autotraducción opaca 
• Narrativa gallega vertida al castellano 
• Álvaro Cunqueiro en inglés 
• Larga noche de piedra, una vez más 
• Retraducir el texto autotraducido. El curioso caso de Xente de aquí e de acolá, de Álvaro Cunqueiro
• El lugar de la autotraducción en el bilingüismo luso-castellano en Portugal.

I didn't have access to the book yet, but a few chapter titles sound familiar, so it might be a collection of new and previous published articles.

Dasilva, Xosé Manuel (2013): Estudios sobre la autotraducción en el espacio ibérico Reihe: Relaciones literarias en el Ambito Hispanico. Peter Lang. 176 pp.
ISBN 978-3-0343-1278-3

Übersetzen. Praktiken kulturellen Transfers am Beispiel Prags

Self-translation will be a topic at the conference Übersetzen. Praktiken kulturellen Transfers am Beispiel Prag, which will take place in Tübingen, Germany, 07.-09.02.2013.

Friday at 4:30 pm
Václav Petrbok (Prag): Selbstübersetzung als Ausdruck der literarischen Zweisprachigkeit in den "böhmischen Ländern": Voraussetzungen, Motive, Wirkung

Gender and Postmodernism in Puerto Rico: the multifacted work of Rosario Ferré

Conference about the self-translator Rosario Ferré
University of Western Brittany (Brest-Quimper) from April 4th to 6th, 2013

The aim of this Congress is to explore the different facets of a multifacted production based on the following themes:
1. The writing context: the Puerto Rican literary press in the 1960s.
2. Feminism and writing in Puerto Rico. Questions of gender in the work of Rosario Ferré
3.  The difficult  coexistence of  languages in contact with one another: bilingualism,
translation, self-translation in the work of Rosario Ferré and in post-colonial Puerto Rican literature

- Summaries of papers (a summary of 2000 signs, spaces included) should be sent before the 31st of January 2013 to the following address: congresoferre@gmail.com

31st January 2013: deadline for sending summaries
28th February 2013: acceptance notification deadline
15th March 2013: publication of final program
- Inscription fees for each participant: 115 euro (includes meals during Congress and
publication of articles)

Languages of the congress: English, French and Spanish

The call for papers is available in Spanish, French and English here.

Bibliography on self-translation first update 2013

Happy new year to everyone! Let's get this year started with the 10th update of the bibliography on self-translation, which includes over 50 new entries. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this update.

I would like to kindly ask you to leave the bibliographic references as a comment on this post, when you give a talk, publish an article or even a book on self-translation, so that the bibliography can be as complete as possible.

To download the bibliography, please click here.