Translation Theory Lab

with special guest Uljana Wolf

Mon, 10.05.2021
6:30 PM - 20:00 BST Online

The Translation Theory Lab is free and open to all translators, near and far, working in any language pair, who have an interest in the background questions, the theory and ethics of translation.

The Translation Theory Lab is an online-meeting via Zoom from 6.30pm to 8pm, organised by the Goethe-Institut in Glasgow.

For this Translation Theory Lab season, we are going all the way back to the beginning and are asking the primordial question with which translators, translation theorists and philosophers have to grapple: What is translation?

“in the beginning, though, or at the start, what art, what sort of sound, of silence: listen, when they begin the beguine, when’s that?”

… begins Uljana Wolf’s False Friends, in Susan Bernofsky’s translation from German. And as well as pondering the beginnings of translation, it makes us question where we situate boundaries: boundaries between original text and translation, boundaries between author and translator, boundaries between one language and another. Can these “false friends” ever be more than friends, or do they sometimes even become enemies?

This season, we are inviting you to get philosophical and discuss the poetics of translation through texts by German poet, translator and essayist Uljana Wolf, who will be joining us for the second session in the series.

Uljana Wolf, born 1979 in East Berlin, studied German, cultural studies and English in Berlin and Krakow. She lives with her family in Berlin and New York, where she teaches German as a foreign language and holds seminars on poetry and translation at the Pratt Institute and the New York University. Wolf's poems have been translated into more than 15 languages ​​and have received numerous awards.

Registration

New members are asked to register on Eventbrite at least three days prior to the event. This will enable us to include you in the mailing list and send you the relevant reading material. Participants are asked to read these excerpts beforehand and reflect on them.
Please note: Those already on the mailing list do not have to register again.

And, if you like, why not join our Facebook group for more discussion?

Back to the events series for further information.