Writers and translators working together: the ethical dimension of the translation of post conflict literature

Cecilia Rossi

doi:10.1080/13556509.2021.1992895

Abstract

ABSTRACT What is the role of the literary translator when tasked with the translation of literary texts resulting from the experience of recent conflict? For the last three years, I have researched this question in the context of literary translation workshops organised by the British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT) and project partner AATI (Argentine Association of Translators and Interpreters) at Instituto Lenguas Vivas, Buenos Aires. This article examines the potential of the literary translation workshop for creating a space, personal as well as collective, in which narratives are shared, re-imagined, and passed on. It also investigates the particular nature of this space as intrinsically transnational, multi-vocal, collaborative and creative. I will argue that this space, open to dialogue and creativity, as well as experimentation and reflection, can make a valuable contribution to the work of other disciplines and discourses, such as memory studies. I will address the ‘ethics of translation’ for translators working on these texts, as well as the more practical questions concerning what a literary translator needs to know when working in contexts which are difficult, conflict-ridden, and multi-vocal, and how they deal with such texts in practice.

Highlights

What is the role of the literary translator when tasked with the transla tion of literary texts resulting from the experience of recent conflict? For the last three years, I have researched this question in the context of literary translation workshops organised by the British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT) and project partner AATI (Argentine Association of Translators and Interpreters) at Instituto Lenguas Vivas, Buenos Aires
What role does the literary translation workshop play in extending the scope of Translation Studies’ inquiry into the ways it relates to other disciplines, and how can it thereby contribute to a deepening of our understanding of translation’s ethically charged potential for mediating memories of past conflicts? Prompted by recent reflections on the status of the discipline by Susan Bassnett and Johnston (2019) my enquiry relates to the ‘Outward Turn’ in Translation Studies and the need to ‘expand outwards, to improve communication with other disciplines, to move beyond the binaries, to engage with the idea of translation as a global activity’ (187)
The ethical dimension of translation should be seen as a question of respect – respect for the otherness and difference of the past, of the victims of conflict, of the author of the source text and of his/her readers

Summary

Introduction

What is the role of the literary translator when tasked with the transla tion of literary texts resulting from the experience of recent conflict? For the last three years, I have researched this question in the context of literary translation workshops organised by the British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT) and project partner AATI (Argentine Association of Translators and Interpreters) at Instituto Lenguas Vivas, Buenos Aires. When setting down the goals of the BCLT-AATI collaborative project, I envisaged that an examination of translation process of works resulting from past conflict would potentially have much to offer to two disciplines in particular, namely, Creative Writing and Memory Studies.

Results

Conclusion