“Using one word for another isn’t special; it’s what we do all the time. Translators just do it in two languages,” professor and translator David Bellos has written. In this course, we will explore literature from around the world, gaining deeper insight by examining these works through the lens of translation. We will take a deep dive into some of the questions literary translators must consider when translating poetry and fiction from other languages into English. In the process, we’ll read literature from around the world, asking: Is translation of literary texts actually possible, or is the essence of a text “lost”? Who should be “allowed” to translate? How much can translators change, and what does it mean to be “faithful” to the original? What are some of the political implications of bringing literature from one cultural and linguistic context to another? By immersing ourselves in a diverse array of poems and fiction we aim to revolutionize our understanding of world literature in English, gaining a profound appreciation for the intricate art and craft of literary translation.
Required Reading
• Hahn, Daniel. Catching Fire: A Translation Diary. Charco Press, 2022.
• Kang, Han. The Vegetarian. Translated by Deborah Smith, Random House Publishing Group (Reprint edition), 2016.
• Weinberger, Eliot. Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei. New Directions (Reprint edition), 2016.
Meet Your Instructor
KELSI VANADA is a 2024 NEA Translation Fellow. She holds an MFA in Poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and an MFA in Literary Translation from the University of Iowa. She writes poems and translates from Spanish and collaboratively from Swedish. She cultivates a readership for poetry in translation by writing reviews and teaches occasional short-term classes and workshops. Since 2018, Kelsi has worked as the Program Director of the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) in Tucson, Arizona.
Location
POETRY CENTER
Dorothy Rubel Room
1508 E Helen
Tucson, AZ 85721
United States
Located on the SE corner of Helen Street and Vine Avenue, one block north of Speedway and three blocks west of Campbell Ave.
