At the end of this seminar, the students will be able to think critically about the translation of literary texts, especially Latin and Greek texts ; they will also be able to produce by themselves French translations that exceed the literal transfer of Latin or Greek words, as well as to put their practice within a theoretical frame and to justify their choices.
Main themes
- Survey of the main extant theories on literary translation.
- Practical tools to support the translation work.
Content and teaching methods
Theoretical and practical sessions will alternate.
The theoretical sessions will deal with the main translation theories, underlining their basic oppositions (source/target constraints, for example). Emphasis will be put on the aspects that are more relevant to classics students. Theoretical reflection will therefore be applied to the specific problems aroused by Greek and Latin texts, as well as to the typical contexts of student-made translations.
The practical sessions will be devoted to the analysis of actual translation samples, either made by the students themselves, either produced by professional translators in present and past centuries, and illustrating different ways of translating classical texts.
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)
Prerequisite : knowledge of Latin and Greek.
Evaluation : individual assignment, offering an original literary translation from Latin or Greek (one or two pages) and justifying the translation choices (accuracy in style, content, literary genre..., expected readership...), by making reference to the relevant theories.
Course materials : some documents and a basic bibliography will be given.