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April 19-20, 2024

UT TranslationSymposium

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April 19-20, 2024

Translation Across Time and Space

The departments of Classics and World Languages and Cultures (WLC) are co-hosting their first symposium on literary translation on the campus of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Friday, April 19 - Saturday, April 20, 2024. The English word “translation” derives from the Latin translatio (“a carrying across”). The symposium will address the power of translation to carry ideas across temporal, cultural, and national borders.The keynote speakers will be Professors Richard Armstrong, University of Houston, speaking on “The Politics of Homeric Translation,” and Lawrence Venuti, Temple University, speaking on “The Bourgeois Shudder: Translating Dino Buzzati's Politics of Fantasy.” (Listen to their WUOT interview about literary translation) In addition to papers, participants will take part in two workshops moderated by each keynote speaker, and a panel featuring three to five additional experts in the field. The entire event will be hybrid in order to accommodate international colleagues and those who may not be able to travel.

The UT Translation Symposium is jointly hosted by the UT departments of Classics and World Languages and Cultures, and co-sponsored by the Denbo Center for Humanities and the Arts, the UT Office of Research, Innovation & Economic Development, the UT Center for Career Development and Academic Exploration, the UT College of Arts and Sciences, the UT Department of English, the UT Center for Global Engagement, the UT Global Studies Program, the UT School of Art, the UT Letterpress Studio, UT Libraries, the UT Office of Undergraduate Research & Fellowships, WUOT, the International House, the McClung Museum, and the UT Graduate School

Organizing Committee:


Participation in the UT Translation Symposium is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

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Schedule at a Glance
UT Translation Symposium

Conference schedule

"Translation Across Time and Space"

Downloadfull agenda

Day 01 full schedule

April 19, 2024 @ 05 PM - 07 PM EDT

Mary Greer Room
John C. Hodges Library Room 258

Join us for the opening reception of the UT Translation Symposium. This gathering serves as a perfect prelude to a series of enriching discussions and workshops focused on the art and nuances of literary translation. Set in the welcoming and intimate atmosphere of the Mary Greer Room of the Hodges Library, attendees will have the opportunity to enjoy freshly-brewed coffee and a selection of light snacks. This reception not only offers a chance to savor delightful refreshments but also provides a unique platform for networking. Whether you're a seasoned professional in the field or simply harbor a passion for literature and translation, this event promises to set the tone for an inspiring symposium.

Keynote Address — Lawrence Venuti


Lindsay Young Auditorium

"The Bourgeois Shudder: Translating Dino Buzzati's Politics of Fantasy"

New York Review Books is currently relaunching the modern Italian writer Dino Buzzati (1906-1972) in English, and Venuti has edited and translated a selection of fifty of his stories under the title The Bewitched Bourgeois. His talk will discuss the translation challenges posed by Buzzati's brand of fantasy, which repeatedly raises social and political issues. The main question is how to recreate in contemporary English his subversion of the ideological complacencies of his moment, now long past (1930s-1970s). One story from 1950, "Appointment with Einstein," contains a Black character that enables Venuti's translation to intervene into recent debates about race in the US.

Lawrence Venuti

Lawrence Venuti

Professor Emeritus of English at Temple University

Day 02 full schedule

April 20, 2024 @ 10 AM - 6 PM EDT

Welcome & Coffee


Mary Greer Room
John C. Hodges Library Room 258

Workshop — What is Translation? Theory, Practice, Value


John C. Hodges Library Room 213 — Registration Required

Although the history of translation theory and practice has been distinguished by a range of concepts and strategies, two approaches have recurred so frequently as to be considered dominant models. The first can be called instrumental, treating translation as the reproduction or transfer of an invariant contained in or caused by the source text, whether its form, its meaning, or its effect. The second can be called hermeneutic, treating translation as the inscription of an interpretation, one among varying and even conflicting possibilities, so that the source text is seen as variable in form, meaning, and effect. This seminar will explore the continuing pertinence of these models for the study, practice, and evaluation of translation by examining theory, commentary, and practice from antiquity to the present--Jerome, Schleiermacher, Pound, The New Yorker.

Lawrence Venuti

Lawrence Venuti

Professor Emeritus of English at Temple University

Lunch & Poster Session

Location TBA

Join us for an refreshing Lunch and engaging Poster Session at the UT Translation Symposium. This casual yet insightful gathering offers attendees the chance to enjoy a delicious lunch while exploring a diverse array of posters. Each poster showcases unique translation projects, innovative research, and insightful case studies in the field of literary translation. It's a perfect opportunity for participants to network, share their experiences, and discuss the latest trends and challenges in translation, all in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Whether you're presenting or just browsing, you're sure to find inspiration and make valuable connections.

Keynote Address — Richard Armstrong


Lindsay Young Auditorium

"The Politics of Homeric Translation"

Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are among the most translated texts in the world, with a translation history leading all the way back to antiquity. This lecture will trace some key moments of Homeric translation that illustrate how the political dimensions of target cultures often come into play, whether the politics involve gender; culture and social class; the international standing of a national language; or the self-definition of an emergent minority one. The contexts under discussion will range from the contemporary US to nineteenth-century Britain, renaissance and modern Spain, twentieth-century Greece, and South Africa from Apartheid to the present.

Richard Armstrong

Richard Armstrong

Associate Professor of Classical Studies
University of Houston

Break

Workshop — Market, Method, and Agency: Emily Wilson’s Homeric Translations


John C. Hodges Library Room 213 — Registration Required

This workshop will discuss the recent translations by classical scholar Emily Wilson of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, with an eye to the market of Homeric translation, Wilson’s explicit and implicit methods, and the agency of women translators of epic into English.

Richard Armstrong

Richard Armstrong

Associate Professor of Classical Studies
University of Houston

Break

Hybrid Panel Discussion


Lindsay Young Auditorium

Join us for the culminating Panel Discussion of the UT Translation Symposium, offered in a convenient hybrid format to welcome both in-person and virtual participants. This final session will convene a panel of distinguished experts from the literary translation community, ready to tackle the most pressing issues, share innovative translation strategies, and discuss the evolving role of translation in our interconnected world. This interactive finale allows attendees to engage directly with panelists, pose questions, and contribute to a vibrant dialogue, regardless of where they are. Whether you're with us at the Lindsay Young Auditorium or connecting from afar via Zoom, this session is designed to provide deep insights and a comprehensive wrap-up of the symposium's themes, setting the stage for future explorations in literary translation.

Lawrence Venuti

Lawrence Venuti

Professor Emeritus of English at Temple University

Richard Armstrong

Richard Armstrong

Associate Professor of Classical Studies
University of Houston
Annette Bühler-Dietrich

Annette Bühler-Dietrich

Professor of Modern German Literature
Institute for Literary Studies
University of Stuttgart (Germany)
Priscilla Layne

Priscilla Layne

Professor of German
Adjunct Associate Professor of African Diaspora Studies
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Harrison Meadows

Harrison Meadows

Assistant Professor of Spanish
Department of World Languages & Cultures
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Huiqiao Yao

Huiqiao Yao

ASIANetwork-Luce Foundation Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow
East Asian Religions
Trinity University
Scholars at the Forefront of Literary Translation

Speakers and Panelists

Learn more about our two keynote speakers (Drs. Venuti and Armstrong) as well as the other members of the Hybrid Panel (Drs. Bühler-Dietrich, Layne, Meadows, and Yao)

Richard H. Armstrong
 Richard H. Armstrong (BA University of Chicago; M. Phil., Ph. D. Yale University) studied Romance and Classical Philology and teaches at the University of Houston in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages. His two main research areas are classical receptions in early psychoanalysis and translation studies. In addition to numerous chapters and articles, he is author of A Compulsion For Antiquity: Freud and the Ancient World (Cornell UP), co-editor with Alexandra Lianeri of A Companion to the Translation of Classical Epic (Wiley-Blackwell, forthcoming) and Classical Translation Studies: Transfigurations in Reception and Cultural History (Oxford UP, forthcoming), co-editor of The Bloomsbury Handbook of Psychoanalysis and Classical Reception (Bloomsbury Academic, forthcoming), and with Paul Allen Miller, series co-editor of Classical Memories / Modern Identities with Ohio State University Press. Armstrong is a recipient of fellowships at the Center for Hellenic Studies (Washington, DC) and the Institute for Bioethics & Health Humanities (UTMB, Galveston), NEH grants, and several teaching and mentorship awards. With Daniel Orrells and Miriam Leonard, he was co-curator of the recent exhibition at the Freud Museum London, Freud’s Antiquity: Object, Idea, Desire, which has a substantial permanent digital archive available.
Annette Bühler-Dietrich’s translations from French to German include plays and prose from contemporary Francophone African authors, such as Hakim Bah, Raharimanana, Aristide Tarnagda, and Sami Tchak. Her translation of Penda Diouf's play, "Pistes…" was adapted into the radio drama "Pisten…" (directed by Christine Nagel), which was honored with the award of Best Radio Drama 2022 by the Deutsche Akademie der Darstellenden Künste (German Academy of the Performing Arts). In 2021, Bühler-Dietrich’s translation of Raharimanana's novel "Revenir" was included in the long-list for the prestigious Prix Première. She holds a professorship in German Studies at the University of Stuttgart (Germany), and most of her research and publications focus on German and Francophone drama and theater. Annette Bühler-Dietrich
Priscilla Layne
 Priscilla Layne is Professor of German and Adjunct Associate Professor of African Diaspora Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is also the director of the Center for European Studies. Her book, White Rebels in Black: German Appropriation of Black Popular Culture, was published in 2018 by the University of Michigan Press. She has also published essays on Turkish German culture, translation, punk and film. She has translated Olivia Wenzel's debut novel, 1000 Coils of Fear, and Sam Meffire’s autobiography, Sam: The German, the Officer, the Man. She recently finished a translation of Birgit Weyhe’s graphic novel Rude Girl, which is forthcoming in April. She is also finishing manuscripts on Afro German Afrofuturism (Out of this World, forthcoming in the fall with Northwestern University Press) and Rainer Werner Fassbinder's film The Marriage of Maria Braun.
Harrison Meadows is an Assistant Professor of Spanish in the Department of World Languages & Cultures at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His translation experience centers primarily on early modern Hispanic theater, having regularly worked with scholars and theater practitioners committed to seeing more Spanish and Latin American theater performed in the U.S. In that context and with those objectives in mind, Harrison views translation and adaptation as inseparable enterprises, and ones that are collaborative and socially embedded. Through his affiliation with the Association for Hispanic Classical Theater, he has participated in working groups and symposia in the U.S., Spain, and England to workshop English and bilingual translations of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spanish-language plays being prepared for performance, publication, or both. Rendering Spanish-language theater comprehensible and meaningful for broader audiences is a pedagogical endeavor for Dr. Meadows as well, which motivated his work in publishing a heavily-glossed student edition of two plays by the baroque playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Harrison Meadows
Lawrence Venuti
 Lawrence Venuti's most recent publications include Contra Instrumentalism: A Translation Polemic (2019), The Translation Studies Reader (4th ed., 2021), and the retranslation of Dino Buzzati's novel The Stronghold (2023).
Huiqiao Yao is a recent graduate of the University of Arizona's East Asian Studies program and currently holds the position of ASIANetwork-Luce Foundation Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in East Asian Religions at Trinity University. Her research focuses on secular hagiographies in late imperial China, spanning the Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist traditions. Her work explores how popular literature and print media contributed to the widespread recognition and understanding of prominent religious figures. She translates classical Chinese to English in her research. As a modern Chinese poet, she also does English-Chinese and Chinese-English translations of poems. Huiqiao Yao
Trusted hands behind us The UT Translation Symposium is jointly hosted by the UT departments of Classics and World Languages and Cultures, and co-sponsored by the Denbo Center for Humanities and the Arts, the UT Office of Research, Innovation & Economic Development, the UT Center for Career Development and Academic Exploration, the UT College of Arts and Sciences, the UT Department of English, the UT Center for Global Engagement, the UT Global Studies Program, the UT School of Art, the UT Letterpress Studio, UT Libraries, the UT Office of Undergraduate Research & Fellowships, WUOT, the International House, the McClung Museum, and the UT Graduate School

Organizing Committee:

Learn more about our Symposium venue:

John C. Hodges Library

The John C. Hodges Library, in the heart of campus, houses the majority of the UT Libraries’ collections and many unique services. The Learning Commons, which comprises the entire second floor, houses research assistance, technology resources, and group study rooms (and our workshop rooms) in one convenient location. The first floor houses the Miles Reading Room, a graduate student common area, the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives, and the Lindsay Young Auditorium (where our keynotes and panel discussion will be held).

Please don’t forget to inviteyour colleagues!