Literary landscapes and the reception of translations

24th – 28th JULY, 2010 UNIVERSITY OF GENOA

The process of literary meaning construction, not to mention the assignment of literary value and ideological significance, is framed by the audience’s ‘horizon of expectation’, which is determined by its social, cultural and literary experience. It is often the case that the meaning of a translation is recreated within a horizon of expectations that are substantially different from those operating in the context of production of the original text. The politics of reception constrain our readings of foreign texts, and translators, as informed readers, fill in gaps and recreate the texts so that they conform, to a smaller or larger degree, to the horizon of expectations of the interpretive community. Cronin (2000) suggests an analogy between a translation and a postcard: both can be used to perpetuate stereotypical images that hide the difficulties associated with travelling in a foreign (literary or geographical) landscape. However, translations have more permanence than a postcard, they become part of the literary landscape into which they are introduced. Venuti (1995, 1998) argues that the Anglophone world only welcomes translations that blend in well with the target landscape, and calls for translations that do not pander to bland colour schemes and flaunt their foreignness and their minority status. Koustas (2008: 26) suggests that a similar mistrust of difference is prevalent among the Francophone publishing industry. However, because of their foreign nature, translations are also important factors of change. This panel will look at the processes involved in the assimilation/appropriation or rejection of translations within a literary tradition: why are certain works/authors/themes chosen for translation and not others? How are they placed in relation to the works/authors/themes that already populate the target literary landscape? What determines their success and their impact on the overall picture? Convenor Gabriela Saldanha Centre for English Language Studies University of Birmingham Westmere, Edgbaston campus Birmingham B15 2TT, UK E-mail: g.saldanha@bham.ac.uk Abstracts for papers should be submitted to Gabriela Saldanha by 15th February, 2010. Abstracts should be of approximately 300 words in length, with keywords, and should also include (1) a title, (2) the name, status and affiliation of the speaker(s), (3) a contact email address, and (4) a postal address. An abstract should also clearly state what the research question is and also describe the chosen methodology and the text(s)/data that will be discussed. Please also let me know if you require any special equipment. All conference rooms have a computer, data projector, and screen. Papers will be a maximum of 20 minutes in length, with a maximum of 10 minutes for questions. Further details about the city, the University and conference can be found at the official conference website: [url=http://www.lingue.unige.it/ials2010/index.php]http://www.lingue.unige.it/ials2010/index.php[/url]