A Translation Seminar with Karen Emmerich

Translation is often considered a process that reinscribes a given “original” in a different language and cultural context. Yet almost all literary works exist in multiple textual configurations; "originals" are less given than made. This talk will draw on examples including Gilgamesh, the folk songs of Greece, and the manuscripts of Emily Dickinson, to present translation as a palimpsest of overlapping interpretive acts, including the task of selecting or constructing a text to serve as the “source” and of creating an edition in translation. 

Karen Emmerich is a translator of (modern) Greek literature and an Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at Princeton University. Her recent and forthcoming translations include novels by Amanda Michalopoulou and Sophia Nikolaidou, poetry by Yannis Ritsos and Eleni Vakalo, and a short story collection by Christos Ikonomou. Her book Translation and the Making of Originals is forthcoming from Routledge. 

Professor Emmerich’s talk is open to the IU community and the general public. 

Coffee, tea, and cookies will be served.