Keynote Speakers

Rediscovering the “Real” Reader of Translations:

From Historical to Empiricist Approaches

Dr Leo Tak-hung Chan,

Guangxi University, China

With revolutionary changes taking place in fields adjacent to Translation Studies, the “real” reader, hitherto overshadowed by the hypothetical (or “implied”) reader, has garnered increasing attention in recent research on translation. This reader has for long been relegated to the periphery when attention was focused on the ‘addressee’ (for whom the translator translates) and the translator-as-reader (who meticulously reads the source text being translated). Methods for investigating reader reception as propounded by literary and cultural studies scholars, as well as book historians, have opened up new possibilities for studying how the actual reader approaches translated literature in particular, why certain translations succeed while others fail, and what factors impact the communal—as opposed to the individual—reception of translations in different places and at different times. In illustration, I have chosen for discussion a range of novels in English and Japanese translated into Chinese and consumed by a mass readership in the twentieth century.

Book Events, Babbling Beasts and Bestsellers: Researching Shared Reading

Dr Danielle Fuller,

University of Alberta

What is “shared reading” and why is it worth researching as part of the study of “reception”? In my presentation I want to approach some of the core issues of the “Reading in Translation” conference from my perspective as a scholar in the field of reading studies whose work is primarily about reading in English and contemporary cultures of reading in North America and the UK. In particular, I want to explore how different sites, spaces and formations of shared reading have necessitated the use of specific methods of research in my own work. While a talk on methods probably sounds very dry (especially if you are not an academic!) I promise to keep technical language to a minimum. Rather, I will share stories of successes and failures about working with readers (adults and children) in various locations on- and offline. In doing so I want to articulate some questions that will resonate with those invested in researching reading in translation or in producing and circulating books in translation. I will draw upon three projects in particular: Beyond the Book, an investigation into mass reading events like One Book, One Community; Babbling Beasts, a project with ten-year-olds that combined creative writing, reading and digital game-making, and Reading Bestsellers, an exploration of how readers use recommendation culture which is being conducted entirely online. All of these projects involved collaborating with a variety of people, not only with other scholars, but also with a poet, a games designer, booksellers, teachers, librarians, and event organizers, among others.

I hope that my illustrations (both verbal and photographic!) of working with readers and of investigating shared reading will not only engage listeners, but also provoke some interesting conversations.