About Transfiction 3

Transfiction 3 will continue to explore the complex relationship and shifting borders between writing and translation, in the past and at present. Using historical perspectives and current theoretical frameworks, participants will reflect on the continuing presence of the theme of translation and translators in fiction, drama, and other art forms such as cinema, on the often problematic interface between writers and translators, and the evolving status of translation in relation to so-called original work.

Suggested topics will include:

• The figure of the translator and the theme of translation: is this primarily a (post)modern phenomenon or one that can be traced back to earlier times?
• Historical perspectives: shifting attitudes to the status of translation and the role of the translator; evolving perceptions of the authorial voice and the translator’s visibility.
• Fictionalized practices of translation such as pseudotranslation.
• Self-translation: can it really be called “translation” or is it a form of (re)writing?  
• Translation and hybridity: dialects/diglossia/polyglossia across expatriate and diasporic communities, and their implications for writing and translation.
• Translation in/and/of modernism: Joyce, Pound, Beckett, etc.
• Intra-cultural or inter-semiotic forms of translation: for example, novels adapted for the  cinema or stage, and graphic novels.
• New developments in a globalized, technological world: what are the implications for translations, translators, and relations between authors and translators of such phenomena as crowdsourcing, chunking of source texts, collaborative translation, and open translation?
• The “translation turn” in the social sciences and humanities: is the use of “translation” a metaphor, a fiction, or a legitimate epistemological practice? 

Conference Languages

The languages of the conference will be English and French.

Note: The conference is being planned in cooperation with the Canadian Association for Translation Studies, whose annual conference will be held in Ottawa the following week, between May 30 and June 5, 2015 on the theme “Literary Translation and Canada.” Scholars may wish to participate in both conferences.

Fee

• Early registration fee (before April 30, 2015): CAN$150
• Fee after April 30, 2015: CAN$175

Information and further details:

For all correspondence about the conference please use the e-mail address: transfiction@concordia.ca.