The week of March 30, we are excited to begin spring quarter with two workshops scheduled: one on March 30, at 4:30 p.m. in Social Sciences 302, and another April 1, at 3:30 in the John Hope Franklin room. We are proud to have such distinguished speakers, and we hope you will be able to join us for both workshops this week.
Please scroll down for more information on both of our events this week. If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail ktanaka@uchicago.edu or tseto@uchicago.edu.
The Art and Politics in East Asia Workshop
Special Presentation:
State-sponsored translation in China, 1952-2003:
Practices, consequences, and implications for translation studies
Bonnie McDougall
Emeritus Professor of Chinese, The University of Edinburgh
April 3, 3:30pm
Social Science 224 (John Hope Franklin Room)
Abstract
Translation Studies (TS) tends to take for granted certain generalized notions of transactions between authors and translators, with publishers variously active or passive in commissioning or accepting manuscripts. The Foreign Languages Press in Beijing in the period 1952-2003 operated on a significantly different model, casting doubt on the validity of basic TS concepts such as source-oriented v. reader-oriented translation. Translation by FLP staff was mostly into non-native languages; editorial staff had little or no knowledge of foreign cultures; little or no feedback from readers was sought or entertained; accuracy was prized but creativity was not. TS theories need to be adjusted to account for this and other examples of non-commercial transactions. In this talk I will focus on literary translation at the FLP in Beijing in the 1980s, based on personal experiences and observations; it describes an episode in Chinese literary history that poses challenges to contemporary translation theory.
Bonnie S. McDougall
Bonnie S. McDougall is Advisory Editor of Renditions, Research Centre for Translation, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Born in Sydney, she first studied Chinese at Peking University (1958-59). Academic appointments include teaching and research at Sydney, SOAS, Harvard, Oslo and Edinburgh.
While a full-time translator at the Foreign Languages Press in the 1980s, she also translated poetry, fiction and film-scripts by new writers emerging through the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, among them Bei Dao, Ah Cheng, Chen Kaige, Gu Cheng, Qiu Xiaolong and Wang Anyi. Her other translations include poetry, fiction, drama and essays by Mao Zedong, Guo Moruo, He Qifang, Ye Shengtao, Yu Dafu, Ding Xilin and Zhu Guangqian, and Hong Kong fiction and poetry by Xi Xi, Dung Kai Cheung, Leung Ping-kwan and Ng Mei-kwan. She has taught literary translation at the College of Foreign Affairs in Beijing as well as in the UK and Hong Kong.
Recent books include Love-letters and Privacy in Modern China: The Intimate Lives of Lu Xun and Xu Guangping (Oxford, 2002) and Fictional Authors, Imaginary Audiences: Modern Chinese Literature in the Twentieth Century (Hong Kong, 2003). Further details are available here).
If you would like to be added to our mailing list and receive workshop updates, please contact ktanaka@uchicago.edu
Persons with a disability who believe they may need assistance, please email Kathryn Tanaka at ktanaka@uchicago.edu or Tomoko Seto at tseto@uchicago.edu
The Art and Politics in East Asia Workshop
Presents:
Exploring the Philosophical and Historical Dimensions of
Contemporary Japan by Tracing Three “Turns”
A Special Presentation By:
Iwasaki Minoru
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
“The ‘Memorial’ Turn in Contemporary Philosophy”
Narita Ryûichi
Japan Women’s University
“Spatial Turn and Temporal Turn in Contemporary Historical Studies.”
Monday, March 30
Social Sciences 302
4:30-6:30 PM
There is no paper for this talk. The talk will be in Japanese with English translation.
Abstract
Throughout the long latter half of the twentieth century, “Japan” took its actions and thought within the framework of the “postwar.” Today, however, this “postwar” has come to an end, and “Japan” has entered a “post-‘postwar’” condition. In our presentations, we will discuss “contemporary” Japan as the “post-‘postwar’” by exploring three “turns” in memory, time and space.
The Art and Politics in East Asia Workshop
Presents:
Issues in Conceptualizing Japanese Garden Art
Friday, March 6
4:00-6:00 p.m.
Judd 313
There is no paper for this workshop.
Abstract:
For many centuries, “Japanese gardens” have been both a source of fascination and an object of mystification for Japanese and non-Japanese alike. Partly by overemphasizing certain themes or aspects, partly by overlooking others, images of Japanese gardens can alter our perception of their materiality. How are gardens transformed by their representations in the media? What is lost in those representations and what is created as a result? How are gardens drawn in a dialogue with political agendas, and what are the factors or features that make such a dialogue lucrative? This presentation will provide some examples that attempt to address such questions and initiate a critical approach departing from current literature on Japanese gardens.
If you would like to be added to our mailing list and receive workshop updates, please contact ktanaka@uchicago.edu
Persons with a disability who believe they may need assistance, please email Kathryn Tanaka at ktanaka@uchicago.edu or Tomoko Seto at tseto@uchicago.edu