This is an ÔIntersessionÕ course (4th May – 19th June)

 

HUM  309-4:   Literature and the Arts Across Cultures

                       The question of translation

 

Department of Humanities, AQ5115, 778-782-3689

 

Semester:   Summer 2009, INTERSESSION (1094), E1.00, Burnaby

Instructor:              Kathy Mezei AQ5117, 778-782-4666, mezei@sfu.ca

 

 

Prerequisites: 45 units. Students who have taken this topic under HUM 381 or HUM 382 may not take this course for further credit.

 

Course Description:

Translation – Òto carry acrossÓ – defines our being in the world. We translate thoughts into speech and into the written word; we translate and are translated across languages, cultures, disciplines, and media. Yet translation is also betrayal (traduttore in Italian), and much is gained but also lost in translation.

 

The new field of translation studies is interdisciplinary, drawing upon the classics, comparative literature, philosophy, sociology, linguistics, and cultural studies. With examples from literature, film, and autobiography in a number of different cultures, we will examine, the history, ideas, and practices of cross cultural translation We will also discuss different translations of the same text (e.g., Mann, Baudelaire).

 

While knowledge of another language would be an asset, it is not a requirement.

 

Required Texts:

Thomas Mann, Death in Venice. Dover 0-486-28714-9

Eva Hoffman, Lost in Translation. Penguin 0 140127739

Brian Friel, Translations.  Faber and Faber 0571 11742-2

Susan Bassnett. Translation Studies. Routledge 2002. (ISBN 0415280133)

 

Students are required to purchase a Custom Courseware Package (including the selections from the Bible, Baudelaire) at the Bookstore.

 

Course Requirements:

Five-page paper                 20%

Mid-term                           20%

Oral presentation                10%

Ten-page project                40%

Class participation              10%