Stories in Translation: Translating the Untranslatable

Dates: Thursday, May 29, 2014 - 20:00
Location: the British Library Conference Centre

BL/OU Panel Discussion in connection with European Literature Night

May 14, 2014, the British Library Conference Centre

Panel discussion - photo There was a full house again at the Bronte Room in the British Library Conference Centre, the venue for this year’s OU-facilitated Panel Discussion on “Stories in Translation: Translating the Untranslatable”. The Panel consisted of two European writers (Diego Marani and Witold Szablowski), a translator (Antonia Lloyd-Jones) and a publisher (Eric Lane of Dedalus Books) in conversation with the Chair, Dr. Fiona Doloughan of the Department of English at the Open University. Issues explored across the Panel included the extent to which stories in translation are shaped by the target language and context into which they are translated and the extent to which they remain ‘the same’ as or are equivalent to the source text; the creativity of the translator and the extent to which s/he co-produces or collaborates on the production of the work; and working practices of both writers and translators. There was also time for questions and comments from the audience who participated fully and actively.

Feedback on the Panel to date has been very positive: it was described as ‘excellent’ by the Head of European Studies at the BL and was mentioned in the introduction to the main evening ELN event with Rosie Goldsmith as getting things off to a good start. One OU colleague commented that “the panel discussion in the afternoon was absolutely brilliant, a fascinating mix of speakers and various experiences of translating stories […]. The whole event gave a really clear overview of the challenges and rewards, and was also hugely entertaining as well as informative”. The Panel was recorded and will be made available via the BL and OU websites (TBC).

Fiona J. Doloughan

June 2, 2014

The photograph above shows Diego Marani and Witold Szablowski, the Italian and Polish authors. The photos on this page are used courtesy of Philip Seargeant, DALEL, The Open University.

Listen to this panel discussion

An audio recording of this event is available (duration: 1 hour 28 minutes).
This features two European writers (Diego Marani and Witold Szablowski), a literary translator (Antonia Lloyd-Jones) and a publisher (Eric Lane of Dedalus Books) in conversation with chair, Dr. Fiona Doloughan, Dept. of English, Open University. The discussion is wide-ranging but includes discussion of the challenges and complexities of translation today; the role of the translator as collaborator or co-author of text; what we might mean by European literature; and the extent to which literature in translation is enriching as well as entertaining.