(Pre-lecture reception at 5pm with light refreshments)

The Inaugural Jean Anderson Annual Lecture in Literary Translation

The Magical Mystery Tour of Literary Translation

Presenter: AProf. Jean Anderson

The major discovery of my fifteen-year involvement in literary translation is that it is often impossible to predict the kinds of specialised knowledge the literary translator may need to complete a project. Even when you have read the work you are undertaking to translate, it is likely that multiple surprises will await you along the way. These in turn will (or at least should) prompt you to reflect on and research unsuspected dimensions of the text.

There have been some recent commentaries on their process by translators of note (such as Lydia Davis on retranslating classics, or Edith Grossman on 'why translation matters'), and emerging theories about the reasons underlying translational decisions (such as Bourdieu's concept of habitus). The so-called 'cultural turn' of the 1990s appears to be evolving currently into an interest in the ethnographical dimensions of translation generally, alongside a focus on the individual translator.

Taking examples from my own experiences translating Pacific literary texts, I reflect on literary translation as a 'magical mystery tour', and the ways it has led me to explore unfamiliar cultural territory.

Jean Anderson has translated a dozen novels and collections of short stories from and into French, with a particular focus on Indigenous writers of the Pacific.

ALL WELCOME

NZCLT Directors –

• Dr Luo Hui (hui.luo@vuw.ac.nz)
• Reader Marco Sonzogni (marco.sonzogni@vuw.ac.nz)

Generously supported by the Roger Ridley-Smith bequest