Creative Practices of Literary Translation: Linguistic, Cultural and Intersemiotic Translations
Colloque organisé par la Prof. Maya Burger ainsi que par l'enseignant Nicola Pozza
Jeudi 18 octobre 2018 - 16h00 au vendredi 19 octobre 2018 - 17h30
Amphimax 414
The aim of the symposium is to discuss various practices of translation. Starting from the assumption that translation is a creative literary activity and the translator the ‘recreator’ of a text in another language or medium, we would like to focus on the case of South Asia and discuss questions related to this area and its literatures. How can translation be a creative activity and how does it transpose tradition in new ways of writing or expressing it? Be it from one language to another (Hindi to English by Jason Grunebaum and Apurva Narain) or from father to son (Hindi poetry of Kunwar Narain revisited in English by Apurva Narain) or from one media to another (the graphic novels revisiting epic events from the Mahābhārataby Amruta Patil), the processes of translation imply choices, rethinking and options which allow to discover not only what is at stake in the process but also new ways to write or to relate to the Indian world.
Rather than discussing translational theories in general, we wish to elaborate on the specificities related to the Indian context and to the personal experiences of the participants. What are the problems inherent in translating Hindi into English, be it novels or poetry? What does it mean to illustrate, for a modern reader, episodes of the Mahābhāratain form of a graphic novel? Who is the intended audience and how do these translations and transpositions relate to a Western or an Indian audience?
Each participant is invited to present and discuss his/her practice of translation and put it into perspective with the other participants. Discussants will respond to the papers and speak from the perspective of their own preoccupations with translation, be it on a theoretical or practical level. A larger audience than Indologists is expected, hence the authors should address their questions in a way they can be understood also by a wider academic public.
Lettres