Literary translation conference draws worldwide luminaries
Making the world's great literature and poetry widely available has been possible since Gutenberg invented the printing press, and it becomes ever more a reality with modern printing methods, global trade and the Internet. Yet for significant writers and poets around the world to truly become widely known, it is necessary to grapple with the thorny politics of language and the formidable demands of creating good translations.
These issues will be explored in depth at a major international conference at Stevens Institute of Technology Nov. 17-19. The Biennial Conference for Contemporary Literary Translation, titled "Tyrannies of the Target Language," will bring together more than 200 translators, critics, scholars, fiction writers and poets from around the world. During this meeting of minds - the second of its kind to be held at Stevens - more than 25 sessions will be held on topics related to works in various languages and the translation of literature and poetry.
Among the luminaries who will be presenting at the conference are Earl Jeffrey Richards, Chair of Romance Studies at the University of Wuppertal in Germany and an eminent scholar and author on medieval European literature; and Serge Gavronsky, a renowned French poet and professor in the French department at Barnard College. Both are known for championing important figures in literature and poetry who write in languages other than English.
Richards, who received his doctorate in comparative literature from Princeton, is renowned for his scholarship as a medievalist and expert on Christine de Pizan, the first woman in France to earn a living as a poet. Richards also drew worldwide attention because his research on the collaboration of literary scholars with the Third Reich led to controversial discoveries that forced the "outing" of powerful ex-Nazis Hans Schwerte and Hans Robert Jauss.
Gavronsky, who was born in Paris in 1932 and fled Hitler in 1941, received his doctorate in European history from Columbia University. His many publications include several books of poetry as well as numerous anthologies in French and English, including "Six Contemporary French Women Poets" (1997). Gavronsky originated the biennial conference at Barnard College before it moved to Stevens two years ago.
Among many others presenting are: Nina Cassian, who is considered one of the great contemporary poets of Eastern Europe; Samuel Menashe, a well-known poet from New York City; Murat Memet-Nejat, a prominent Turkish poet and translator of Turkish poetry; Carmen Firan, a Romanian poet who directs the Romanian Cultural Center in New York City; and Arkadii Dragomoschenko, a leading contemporary Russian poet and translator of American poetry.
"We're excited about this year's conference for several reasons," says Dr. Deborah Sinnreich-Levi, a medieval literature specialist and associate professor of humanities at Stevens.
"The politics of language is a highly charged subject in our world today, and the conference participants themselves are exciting.
"Also, the feedback we received for our first conference in 1998 was outstanding, so there is a great deal of anticipation. This is an intimate conference in a great setting near New York City, and because it involves the confluence of so many brilliant people, the connections one can make are compelling to many people with an interest in literature, poetry and translation."
Sinnreich-Levi, along with Drs. Susan Levin and Edward Foster, who are also humanities professors at Stevens, have organized this year's conference. Foster also held a conference at Stevens on Russian and American poetry in the past year, which has attracted a number of Russian participants to return to this fall's conference.
The conference runs from 3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17 (registration followed by a reception and dinner) until 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19. Conference events take place in Stevens' Morton-Peirce-Kidde complex, located on Stevens' campus northeast of 6th and River Streets in Hoboken, N.J.
The public is welcome to attend conference proceedings. The conference fee is $15, and can be paid at the registration desk in the third floor hallway of the Morton-Peirce-Kidde complex. Public transportation is recommended since parking at Stevens and in Hoboken is limited. The conference location is just six blocks north of historic Hoboken terminal, a primary hub where several forms of public transit, including PATH trains, are available to and from New York City and many parts of New Jersey.
The conference is sponsored by Stevens' School of Applied Sciences and Liberal Arts, the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Russian/American Cultural Exchange Program, and the Samuel, Minerva and David Lee Humanities Resource Center at Stevens. For a full listing of conference events, please visit the "Program" portion of the conference web site at:
www.stevens.edu/humanities/Conference_Seminar/index.html.
For more information contact Dr. Deborah Sinnreich-Levi at (201) 216-5403 or e-mail her at dsinnrei@stevens.edu.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.
Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.
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