Mike Fu

The Art of Translation

Friday, June 21, 2024, 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.                                                                                       

This seminar is an introduction to and prerequisite for the eight-week online “Art of Translation” course during the coming Project Period. Together we will consider translation as both a mundane practice and site of creative potential. We will examine our entanglements with written language and consider the mechanics of conveying ideas or images between different cultural and linguistic lineages. We will ponder the “untranslatable” and consider whether this veil of impenetrability is more evocative or reductive. Short exercises may be deployed to stimulate conversation.

After establishing the conceptual lens, we will review the syllabus for the course. Over eight weeks, in a supportive and rigorous online workshop setting, we will alternate between translating brief works of poetry or prose (from languages that may include Chinese, French, Japanese, and others) and reading short texts as entry points into discussing translation as a creative practice and industry. All participants are expected to provide detailed written comments on the assigned readings and each other’s translations. Translation is an idiosyncratic and highly subjective art, and thus no definitive answer or solution exists. Engaging in dialogue online and learning from how others have tackled the same assignment will be a central part of the course. Anxieties associated with the craft of translation, critiques of the anglophone publishing world, and other topical concerns about the ethics of translation and the market realities of literature in translation will also be discussed and explored.

 The aim of the seminar and course is to offer all participants the intellectual and creative guidance to help them develop their own translations, with an emphasis on the practice of translation as an enrichment of their own writerly practices. It is not necessary to know a second language in order to take the seminar or participate in the course.

Required Reading (in Reader):

Snyder, D. P. “Stuck at 3%: Why Can’t We Have More Literature in English Translation?” Lit Mag News, 20 Apr. 2023.

Available online at: litmagnews.substack.com/p/stuck-at-3-why-cant-we-have-more