A Translation Seminar with Dr. Samuel N. Rosenberg
Featuring Dr. Samuel N. Rosenberg Professor Emeritus of French and Italian, Indiana University
Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) was, with Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), one of the most important French lyric poets of the 19th century. He was remarkably prolific, publishing two dozen volumes of poetry through the three decades of his career. Dr. Samuel Rosenberg has been at work on an anthology of his own English translations representative of all stages of that very productive life. In this endeavor he will have the benefit of help from his colleague, Professor Nicolas Valazza, who has agreed to introduce and annotate the collection. Discussion of his work will take up questions of rhyme, rhythm, tone, and preservation of meaning. There will be ample room for comparison of the poet’s French with his (or other translators’) versions in English.
Samuel N. Rosenberg (A.B. Columbia 1957, Ph.D. Johns Hopkins 1965) has been a Professor Emeritus of French and Italian at IU since 2000. Before retirement, he devoted his attention principally to the French Middle Ages and matters philological, often in collaboration with fellow philologists and musicologists. Since retiring, he has been active in literary translation, working in modern French as well as medieval prose, and in poetry.
Among his books published in the last 30 years are The Lyrics and Melodies of Gace Brulé (1985), The Monophonic Songs in the “Roman de Fauvel” (1991), two of the volumes of Lancelot-Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation (1993-1996), Chansons des trouvères (1995), Songs of the Troubadours and Trouvères (1997), Les Chansons de Colin Muset (2005), The Old French Ballette (2006), Lancelot and the Lord of the Distant Isles, or “The Book of Galehaut” Retold (2006), Sottes chansons contre amours: Parodie et burlesque au XIIIe siècle (2010), and Berlioz on Music: Selected Criticism, 1824 – 1837 (2015).
Samuel N. Rosenberg has been a participant in the Translation Seminar since its creation, speaking most recently on translating Berlioz (2013).
The Translation Seminar Series, coordinated by Professors Russell Valentino and Bill Johnston, is open to the IU community and general public.
Coffee and tea will be served.