Literary Translation: Crossing Borders to Enrich Your Own Writing

Note: No previous formal language study or fluency in a second language is required. Translation is essential for a genuine exchange of ideas between people of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Besides being an essential service for cultural understanding, literary translation is also a form of creative writing. This course includes readings in the history, theory, and practice of literary translation, along with analysis of sample translations by leading translators. Students will also practice translation of literary texts, including poetry and short works of fiction and nonfiction. While increasing the student's awareness of the art of literary translation as an end in itself, the course also demonstrates translation’s value in enriching a writer’s development in his or her own work. Students should have basic skills in the source language of their choice, but fluency is not required.