All too often, she argues, scholars and teachers of world literature assume a ready transferability across open linguistic and political borders, and she aims to complicate these matters, both linguistically and politically. From the politics to a poetics thirthankar chakraborty on 5 october 2016, theresa may, the prime ministe r of britain, delivered a keynote lecture at the. Against world literature, on the politics of untranslatability. On the politics of untranslatability by emily apter. Review just following emily apters dizzying array of texts from diverse traditions and times including a tightly. Translation as historyhistory as failure american literary. Whereas apter uses untranslatability to argue for world literatures impossibility, benjamin deduces other lessons from the incommensurability between languages. On obstruction, impasse and the impolitic verso, 2018. In against world literature, she offers a bracing critique of the politics of translation in american literary studies. Dr tom langley aims this course explores the significance of processes of translation in colonial and postcolonial india. Pdf on jul 1, 2017, joseph wager and others published apter, emily.
Translation and literature list of issues volume 23, issue 3 against world literature. Jun 12, 2018 professor april van camp and professor steven knapp irsc. Translation and literature is an interdisciplinary scholarly journal focusing on english literature in its foreign relations. This period has witnessed the rapid revival of the goethean dream of weltliteratur from the ashes of a comparative literature widely castigated for its residual eurocentrism. Both chinese literature and australian literature are marginalized from the world republic of letters, with chinese language being deemed inscrutable and difficult to western readers while australian literature being marginalized too in mainstream world literature as it is located in the asiapacific region with a rich translation of the. The book engages in a polemical critique of recent efforts to revive world literature models of literary studies moretti, casanova, etc on the grounds that they construct their curricula on an assumption of translatability. On the politics of untranslatability, apter promotes the concept of the untranslatable as a means to create an alternative history of ideas that foregrounds mistranslation as a sort of creative spark in the face of dominant configurations of world literature. Cultural untranslatability and narratives of identity in. The book engages in a polemical critique of recent efforts to revive world literature models of literary studies moretti, casanova, etc on the grounds that they.
Emily apter is professor of french and comparative literature at new york university. Emily apter is julius silver professor of french and comparative literature and chair of comparative literature at new york university. Jan 06, 2014 in their rush to franchise global campus outposts all over the world, universities seize on world literature as a catchall rubric for flimsy programs in the humanities that ignore rather than deepen local knowledge, writes emily apter, summarizing the views of world literatures most outraged critics in against world literature. On the politics of untranslatability emily apter isbn. Comparative literature studies, volume 51, number 3.
On the politics of untranslatability verso, 20 and the coedited dictionary of untranslatables. As it was with these fields in earlier generations, so has it been with world literature since the 2000s, at least according to emily apter in against world literature. These two volumes, together with the books published in the princeton u. On the politics of untranslatability argues for a rethinking of comparative literature focusing on the problems that emerge when largescale paradigms of literary studies ignore the politics of the untranslatablethe realm of those words that are continually retranslated, mistranslated, transferred from. Surrey and marot, livy and jacobean drama, virgil in paradise lost, popes horace, fielding on. Puts forward an original methodology and vocabulary for the study of national literatures. On the politics of untranslatability against world literature. However, in her next book, against world literature. In their rush to franchise global campus outposts all over the world, universities seize on world literature as a catchall rubric for flimsy programs in the humanities that ignore rather than deepen local knowledge, writes emily apter, summarizing the views of world literatures most outraged critics in against world literature. Surrey and marot, livy and jacobean drama, virgil in paradise lost, popes horace, fielding on translation, brownings agamemnon, and brecht in english.
Against untranslatability two translators response to emily apter abstract. World literature, the idea of untranslatability is promoted as a challenge to american and european cultural hegemony. Anissa daoudi untranslatability of algeria in the black. Aug 15, 20 emily apters against world literature continues the project that she started in the translation zone. Translation, colonialism, postcolonialism 7aba0009 convenor. Advances a new way to teach literature in the academy. On the politics of untranslatability verso, 20 and elsewhere, emily apter appeals to mistranslation as a basis for her concept of untranslatability, which she uses to critique the hegemony of english in the academic study of world literature, especially as it manifests.
Texts and contexts drive apters critique of world literature as a discourse of, about and in translation. Sep, 20 emily apter, professor of french and comparative literature at new york university, discusses her new book, against world literature. Emily apter, professor of french and comparative literature at new york university, discusses her new book, against world literature. In recent years, the critique of orientalism within international modernism has prompted the need for new paradigms of literary history. On the politics of untranslatability at great new books in the. It is surely a mark of some kind of success when a movement begins to be attacked by its own participants. Professor april van camp and professor steven knapp irsc. On the politics of untranslatability and barbara cassins vocabulaire europen des philosophies dictionary of untranslatables. A new comparative literature 2006 of using moments of translation, or, moreover in this new book, moments of untranslatability 3, as the focus of comparative literature. In against world literature emily apter uses the concept of untranslatables to locate differences in thought that are conditioned by language. A philosophical lexicon, 2014, to anna brickhouses the unsettlement of america. This is a vital contribution at the intersection of postcolonial, comparative, and world.
Apter reprises the familiar role of scholar as troublemaker. Translation theory and practice in the abbasid era. Indeed, untranslatability, or the impossibility of translation, clearly attracts some translators, and may help make their translation compelling creative works. Faculty members offer courses embracing the ancient and modern periods of world literature, exploring critical, theoretical, and historical issues. On the politics of untranslatability 9781844679706. On the politics of untranslatability argues for a rethinking of comparative literature focusing on the problems that emerge when largescale paradigms of literary studies ignore the politics of the untranslatablethe realm of those words that are continually retranslated, mistranslated, transferred from language to language, or especially resistant to. They thus ended up, to paraphrase lawrence venuti, bringing back a cultural other as the same.
Emily apter in against world literature argues that in recent attempts at teaching world literature, an unquestioned assumption of translatability has left out any reckoning with incommensurability or the untranslatable, 4. The publication history of moroccan writer muhammad shukris autobiographical book alkhubz alhafi is paradigmatic of the role played by national contexts in the reception of world literature. Instead, arresting and unashamedly political, against world literature asks us to regard untranslatability those thorny, frustrating moments of cultural dissonance and misunderstanding as the key to translation and crosscultural engagement. Rewrites the literary history of the last 400 years from the perspective of literary worldednessproducing a more global and less eurocentric theory of literary development. On the politics of untranslatability argues for a rethinking of comparative literature focusing on the problems that emerge when. World literature evokes the great comparatist tradition of. Mar 18, 2015 emily apter is professor of french and comparative literature at new york university.
Drawing on the field of translation studies, it aims to equip graduate students with the critical tools that are required to analyse a variety of texts within the. Verso 20, arcadia on deepdyve, the largest online rental service for scholarly research with thousands of academic publications available at your fingertips. Jul 26, 2017 from emily apters against world literature. Harisson argues in in his article, world literature. Common knowledge, volume 21, issue 1, january 2015, pp. On literary worlds eric hayot oxford university press. On the politics of untranslatability argues for a rethinking of comparative literature focusing on the problems that emerge when largescale paradigms of literary studies ignore the politics of the untranslatablethe realm of those words that are continually retranslated, mistranslated, transferred from language to language, or especially resistant. Written with aamir muftis distinctive blend of rigor and clarity, forget english. Download and read free online against world literature. On the politics of untranslatability argues for a rethinking of comparative literature focusing on the problems that emerge when largescale paradigms of literary studies ignore the politics of the untranslatable. Pdf against world literature download full pdf book download.
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