Lecturer: Dr Brecht de Groote
Abstract
Acting on a dominant strain within the Romantic-era discourse on literature and translation, Romanticist criticism has long tended to regard translation as essentially ancillary. In recent years, however, critics have increasingly turned to a closer consideration of Romantic-period imaginations and negotiations of linguistic and cultural difference. This revaluation of interlinguistic and intercultural transfer coincides with increasing interest in an equally long-neglected set of questions which pertain to the material and technological carriers that organise transfer. So far, however, these two forms of transfer have rarely been examined together. Arguing that translation and mediation are two discourses that trope each other, and that are determinative to the self-imagination of Romantic culture and literature, this seminar will examine how discourses and imaginations of translation and mediation repeatedly intersect, and how they combine to ponder aesthetic and philosophical questions that go the heart of Romantic and post-Romantic modes of thought.
Instructions
Following a brief introduction, we’ll be discussing five selected texts: your readings and ideas will be guiding our discussion, so please make sure to prepare by reading the following and noting down anything that strikes you as relevant to our theme of the seminar:
Please take note of the manifestations of translation and mediation, and especially how they intersect with each other in carefully staged scenographies.
Lest the seminar become overly monologic, it would be good if you could also send me a brief response to your reading, just so I have a sense of where each of you are coming from. There is no need for any referencing, or even a particularly well-argued or well-written point: a spontaneous reaction, of no more than a paragraph, as to what you thought was striking or strange (or even simply tedious) will do perfectly. I’m especially interested to hear how the materials connect to your own research, and what connections you see to texts which aren’t included in the materials.
You can send me this two days before the seminar: brecht.degroote@ugent.be.
