Course Objectives: |
In literature and film, on the internet, and in science, finance and international relations, cross-cultural communication is mediated by translation. How do concepts of law and politics, for instance, translate in different cultural contexts? This course approaches these questions from the vantage point of literary translation. We will consider the relationship of literary translation to history, politics, imperialism, globalization, and media. We will ask: why do some translators aim for familiarity and others for estrangement? What does it mean to read in translation and for authors to write with foreign audiences in mind? How does one confront and engage the limits of translatability? Who are the arbiters of international taste of translation methods, practices, and styles? What artistic and political values are at stake? |
Course Content: |
Examination of the differences of literary translation from other types of translation, strategies, and methods that can be used for translating different literary genres, skills to criticize a literary translation text in a descriptive manner. |
Week |
Subject |
Related Preparation |
1) |
Introduction- Dezsö Kosztolányi, “The Kleptomaniac Translator” |
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2) |
The Task of the Translator- Selections, various translators: from Sappho, Ovid, Proust, Baudelaire
- Walter Benjamin, “The Task of the Translator”
- Sandra Bermann, “Performing Translation”
- Michael Wood, “Benjamin’s Proust: Commentary and Translation”
- John Dryden from his Preface to Ovid’s Epistles Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “Translations
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3) |
History- Selections from the 1001 Nights by Galland, Lane, Payne, Torrens, and Mardrus
Steiner, from After Babel
Susan Bassnett, “Variations on Translation”
Robert Young, “Philosophy in Translation”
Jorge Luis Borges, “The Translators of the 1001 Nights”
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4) |
Method
- Petrarch, from the Canzionere, various translators
- Friedrich Schleiermacher, “On the Different Methods of Translating”
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5) |
Method
- Luis de Camoes, Sonnets and Other Poems by various translators, from Burton to Zenith.
- Michael Henry Heim, “Varieties of English for the Literary Translator”
- Vladimir Nabokov, “The Servile Path [On Translating Pushkin]”
- Catherine Porter, “The Expository Translator
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6) |
Nation
- The Lusiads, tr.
- Leonard Bacon David Damrosch, “Translation and National Literature”
- Sandra Bermann, “Translating History”
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7) |
Midterm |
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8) |
Cross- Cultural
- Geert Jan Van Gelder, ed. & tr, from Classical Arabic Literature: A Library of Arabic Literature Anthology
- Roger Allen, “Arabic and Translation: Key Moments in Trans Cultural Connection”
- Ferial J. Ghazoul, “Majnun Layla: Translation as Transposition”
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9) |
The Politics of Translation
- Mikhail Bulgakov, competing translations, The Master and Margarita
- Kwame Anthony Appiah, “Thick Translation" |
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10) |
Orhan Pamuk, Guneli Gun vs. Maureen Freely, The Black Book |
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11) |
Margin and Minor Literature
- Matthew Reynolds, from The Poetry of Translation
- Fernando Pessoa, different translators, The Book of Restlessness
- Clarice Lispector, various translations, Short Stories
- Venuti, “Margin,” in The Translator’s Invisibility
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12) |
Imperial and Postcolonial
- Selections from The 1001 Nights, tr. Richard Burton
- Venuti, “Call to Action,” [Foreignizing Translation as Subversive, citing Burton’s Nights as chief example] from The Translator’s Invisibility
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13) |
Imperial and Postcolonial
- From Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The General in his Labyrinth, tr. Edith Grossman
- From Antonio Lobo Antunes, The Return of the Caravels, tr. Gregory Rabassa
- Kathryn Batchelor, “Postcolonial Issues in Translation: The African Context”
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14) |
(Im)Possibilities
- Brian Lennon, “Machine Translation: A Tale of Two Cultures”
- Bellos, “Tintin’s Adventures in Translationland”
- Michinton, “On Subtitling [Foreign Language Film]”
- Barbara Cassin ed, tr. ed. Apter, Lezra & Wood, Dictionary of Untranslatables: A Philosophical Lexicon
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15) |
Final Exam |
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Program Outcomes |
Level of Contribution |
1) |
Uses academic English language skills effectively. |
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2) |
Knows the historical and cultural foundations of English Language and its developmental periods in detail. |
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3) |
Knows the periods of English Literature in detail with its cultural and historical features. |
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4) |
Evaluates the basic literary genres such as fiction (novel, story), theater and poetry according to their characteristics. |
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5) |
Can apply various analytical concepts and tools in literary theory to literary examples. |
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6) |
Comprehends the modern language and linguistic theories in a comprehensive way. |
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7) |
Can evaluate the important literary figures and works in American and world literature together with their cultural and historical features. |
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8) |
Evaluates the history of world civilization from the cultural and historical perspective. |
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9) |
To be able to translate English to Turkish and Turkish to English in different text types. |
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10) |
Apply contemporary teaching methods and techniques related to teaching English as a foreign language. |
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11) |
Develops course materials related to teaching English as a foreign language. |
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12) |
Uses a second foreign language at B1 General Level at least according to the European Language Portfolio criterion. |
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13) |
Uses information and communication technologies together with computer software at the basic level of European Computer Driving License. |
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14) |
Applies basic research methods and theories of social sciences. |
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15) |
Takes responsibilities by adopting fundamental universal values and developing a prudent, respectful, open to communication and learning attitude towards different language, race, gender, religion and social class groups. |
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