Enrica Fantino und Philip Schmitz laden Sie herzlich ein zur Eröffnung des Lukian-Kolloquiums im Sommersemester 2024. Zu diesem Anlass wird Prof. Dr. Martin Revermann von der Universität Toronto einen Vortrag zum Thema „Translation controversies“ halten (sein Abstract s. u.). Martin Revermann, klassischer Philologe und ausgewiesener Experte im Bereich der Kulturgeschichte des Theaters, hat 2022 einen Humboldt Research Preis bekommen. In diesem Rahmen erforscht er in Kooperation mit dem Institut für Klassische Philologie der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (das ihn für den Preis nominiert hat) und mit der Scuola Normale di Pisa Übersetzungsgeschichte und -theorie antiker Texte in die modernen Sprachen.

Der Eröffnungsvortrag findet am 18. April, um 19.00 s.t. unter diesem Link statt: https://uni-leipzig.zoom.us/j/68931114228?pwd=NEpkN1llRVZmcEh4aEhnMDV1SXhKdz09

Über die digitale Teilnahme möglichst vieler SPP-Angehöriger und ihre Beteiligung durch Vorträge und Projektvorstellungen in den nächsten Semestern würden sich Enrica Fantino und Philip Schmitz sehr freuen!

Abstract: Translation Controversies

Martin Revermann (University of Toronto)

Is any translation ever not controversial? The answer is probably no. Differences of opinion, on nuances or of a more pronounced nature, are likely to intrude at some point into any sustained discussion of translation in any context, academic or non-academic, with varying degrees of intensity and of the stakes involved. As a perhaps near-ubiquitous feature of translation and some kind of a ‘fracture point’ by default, controversy then promises to yield important insights about translators and translation communities, contested translation norms and the politics of translation alike.

My approach to the topic is a socio-historical one. It will differ from one prominent treatment which has previously looked at translation controversy (at monograph length), Venuti’s The Scandals of Translation: Towards an Ethics of Difference from 1998. In keeping with his conviction that translation has historically been both stigmatized and marginalized, Venuti’s project is disruptive and polemical, aimed at changing institutional dynamics surrounding translation (among, for instance, publishers) which Venuti considers to be exploitative and repressive. Unlike Venuti, however, my focus will be more on the socio-culturally relevatory and intellectually diagnostic character of controversy dealing with, and triggered by, translation. By further contrast, I see controversy as, ultimately, productive, beneficial and necessary: the fact that it is inevitable when it comes to translation is not a liability but an enormous asset, not least for Classicists themselves.