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21st-Century Life Narratives in Transit and Translation: Refugee Tales and Beyond
In his guest lecture within the framework of Professor Doctor Birgit Neumann's seminar "Migration and Refugee Narratives: Self-Translation, Mis-Translation and Non-Translation", Professor Doctor Jan Rupp analyses life-writing as 'site of refuge' and 'hospitable form'.
Abstract
In the face of material and legal constraints for refugees to speak, their life stories are frequently facilitated by new networks of solidarity to protest hostile immigration regimes. These invariably complex constellations of telling – involving refugees, activists, lawyers, translators and go-between writers, among others – are haunted by scepticism over the question of who can speak as/for refugees and display elusive multidirectional linkages with earlier bodies of migrant literature. However, in the absence of rights and representation, life-writing offers an important site of refuge itself, resulting in innovative forms of fictional accommodation, emic and etic narratives, or auto- and heterobiography. Further mapping this growing network of what I call ‘hospitable form’, my talk will survey a broad spectrum of non-fictional to fictional(ized) life-writing, including of the multi-volume Refugee Tales (2016-21). I will then turn to a close reading of Behrouz Boochani’s prize-winning autobiographical account No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison (2018), with a particular view to the role of media and translation. I will argue that refugee narratives cover important new ground for life-writing while registering the impact of refugee systems, as an emergent body of work yet to be fully accommodated.
About Professor Doctor Jan Rupp
Having served as an interim professor at the universities of Frankfurt, Giessen, Heidelberg and Wuppertal, Professor Doctor Jan Rupp currently is coordinator of the Research Centre for the Study of Culture at the Justus Liebig University Giessen. Learn more about his research here.
Übersetzer·innen als Verbündete | Macht · Asymmetrien · Teilhabe
Dorothea Traupe gibt die diesjährige Keynote für die Summer School des Literaturübersetzen Studiengangs. In ihrer Keynote mit dem Titel "Übersetzer·innen als Verbündete | Macht · Asymmetrien · Teilhabe" wird sie u. a. über ethische Auftragsentscheidungen und das Übersetzen aus "kleinen Sprachen" sprechen.
Dorothea Traupe hat Politikwissenschaft, Englische und Polnische Literaturwissenschaft sowie Literarisches Übersetzen aus dem Englischen an der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München studiert. Sie arbeitet als Dozentin, Moderatorin, Prozessbegleiterin mit Schwerpunkt inklusive Kommunikation, Diversität und Barrierefreiheit sowie als Übersetzerin für Englisch, Polnisch und Leichte Sprache. Im Rahmen von DÜF-Gastdozenturen hat sie sich in den letzten beiden Wintersemestern intensiv mit dem Thema „Literaturübersetzen in Einfache/Leichte Sprache“ beschäftigt. Mehr: www.dorotheatraupe.de.
Reading with Dr. Elizabeth Chakrabarty
Within the framework of this year's literary translation summer school, Doctor Elizabeth Chakrabarty reads from her novel "Lessons in Love and Other Crimes".
Doctor Elizabeth Chakrabarty is an interdisciplinary writer using creative and critical writing, besides performance, to explore themes of race, gender and sexuality. Her debut novel Lessons in Love and Other Crimes, inspired by experience of race hate crime, was published in 2021 by the Indigo Press, along with her essay, On Closure and Crime. In 2022 Elizabeth was longlisted for both the Desmond Elliott Prize, and also shortlisted for the LGBTQ Polari First Book Prize, for Lessons in Love and Other Crimes. She was also shortlisted for the Dinesh Allirajah Prize for Short Fiction 2022, and her story 'That Last Summer' was published in The Dinesh Allirajah Prize for Short Fiction 2022: Crime Stories by Comma Press. She was shortlisted for the Asian Writer Short Story Prize in 2016, and her story 'Eurovision' was published in Dividing Lines (Dahlia, 2017). Her poetry has been published by Visual Verse, and her short creative-critical work includes writing published in Gal-Dem, New Writing Dundee, Wasafiri, and the anthology Imagined Spaces (Saraband, 2020), and in translation, by Glänta and Deus Ex Machina. In 2023 she received the CrimeFest bursary for crime fiction authors of colour, and was the April writer in residence at Passa Porta, Brussels, besides being invited by the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation to give a masterclass for their Gay Writes project. She lives in London.
Narrating/Translating China and the Chinese Experience Abroad
A Conversation with Sinophone Writer Yan Geling and Translator Lawrence Walker
Heine Haus Literaturhaus, Bolkerstraße 53, 40213 Düsseldorf
On 7 June 2024, Yan Geling, one of the most acclaimed Sinophone novelists and screenwriters, along with literary translator Lawrence Walker, will discuss the aesthetics and politics of narrating and translating China and the Chinese experience abroad. Moderated by Dr. Yongli Li and Dr. Hannah Pardey, this event will feature a conversation about their creative processes, readings from a selection of Yan’s writings and Walker’s translations, and a discussion with the audience. The event will be conducted in English.
Yan Geling 嚴歌苓 is one of the most acclaimed novelists and screenwriters in the Chinese language and a well-established writer in English. Born in Shanghai, she served with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) during the Cultural Revolution, starting at age twelve as a dancer in an entertainment troupe. Ms. Yan published her first novel in 1986 and has been writing constantly ever since. Many of her works have been adapted for film and television, working with famous Chinese directors Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Feng Xiaogang, Ang Lee, Li Shaohong and Joan Chen. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Ms. Yan holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from Columbia College, Chicago. She has published over 40 books and has won over 30 literary and film awards. Her works have been translated into twenty-one languages. Her literary and film work after March 2020 has been unofficially banned in China after she wrote an essay criticizing the Chinese government’s initial handling of the COVID-19 crisis. She resides in Berlin and is co-owner of New Song Media GmbH, which she and her husband Lawrence Walker founded to publish her work and produce her films.
Lawrence A. (Larry) Walker, born in California, worked as a US diplomat from 1980-1991 and again from 2004-2013, serving Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa and the United States. Between 1991 to 2004 he was managing director of the German American Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco and worked in international business development for a dot-com and a venture capital company. He translated and published Yan Geling’s White Snake and Other Stories with Aunt Lute Books and her short story “The Landlady” in Granta. His translation of her novel The Criminal Lu Yanshi 陆犯焉识 is to be published by Balestier Press. He is the managing director and co-owner with Yan Geling of New Song Media GmbH, founded to publish her work and produce her film projects. He holds a B.S. in Languages and Linguistics from Georgetown University; an M.B.A. from the University of Illinois; and a Master’s in Administration and Management from the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium, which he attended as a Rotary Ambassador Scholar.
Sponsored by Gesellschaft von Freunden und Förderern der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf e.V. (GFFU), Transcultural Studies and Centre for Translation Studies at HHU.
Moderation: Dr. Hannah Pardey (Centre for Translation Studies, HHU), Dr. Yongli Li (Transcultural Studies, HHU)
Vom Original geküsst? Wege zum Literaturübersetzen
01.03.2024
Buchübersetzungen entstehen nicht im luftleeren Raum, sie werden von Menschen gemacht. Wo können Sie dies studieren, wie gelingt Ihnen der Berufseinstieg und wie bilden Sie sich fort? Anlässlich der Mitgliederversammlung des Verbands der Literaturübersetzer:innen (VdÜ) in Düsseldorf kommen Vertreterinnen des Masterstudiengangs Literaturübersetzen und des Centre for Translation Studies mit Berufspraktikerinnen ins Gespräch.
Prof. Dr. Vera Elisabeth Gerling, Prof. Dr. Birgit Neumann (beide HHU)
Larissa Bender, Ricarda Essrich (Berufsübersetzerinnen)
Moderation: Dr. Friederike von Criegern
19:00, Haus der Universität
Translating Selves, Translating Media: Experimental Black Life Writing in Yrsa Daley-Ward's Work
16.01.2024
Dieser Vortrag von Jennifer Leetsch beschäftigte sich mit der Arbeit der britischen Autorin und Instagram-Poetin Yrsa Daley-Ward, um einerseits neue, experimentelle Formen des Black Life Writings in on- und offline-Medien zu erschließen, und um andererseits die kritische Auseinandersetzung mit Fragen von Autor:innenschaft, Autorität, Identität und Zugehörigkeit zu fördern.
Moderation: Christina Slopek-Hauff
Mehr lesen
Creative Writing Workshop mit Schriftstellerin Sumana Roy: "How Do You Create Space?"
27.10.2023
Was hat Schreiben eigentlich mit Architektur gemeinsam und wie (er)schafft man beim Schreiben Raum?
Am 27.10.2023 gibt die indische Schriftstellerin und Dichterin Sumana Roy von 10:30-14:00 Uhr eine Creative Writing Workshop zum Thema "How Do You Create Space?"
Wer teilnehmen möchte, kann sich einfach mit einer kurzen Nachricht an ma-litueb(at)hhu.de anmelden. Die Veranstaltung ist offen für Studierende aller Fachrichtungen.
Plastic Translation: Gastvortrag von Professor Ranjan Ghosh
24.10.2023
This talk drew on Ghosh's trans-philosophy, his investment in the philosophy and poetics of _trans_, as a way of developing fresh modes in "critical thinking" and new critical humanities. Through what he calls trans(in)fusion that involves breaking into disciplines, opening up thought-regimes, he tries to introduce a fresh concept in "plastic translation". This is not simply about understanding cross-cultural translation; it directs us to what Ghosh has argued elsewhere as "conceptual translation". This, again, leaves us to negotiate the area of plastic reading. Following on his recent work on plastic theory, as related to trans(in)fusion, this talk will spell out a fresh discourse on how translation connects with plasticity and contributes eventually to the development of plastic humanities.
Professor Ranjan Ghosh is Alexander von Humboldt Visiting Professor at the Institute of English and American Studies/Anglophone Literatures and Literary Translation. He teaches in the Department of English, University of North Bengal. His many books include Thinking Literature across Continents (Duke University Press, 2016, with J Hillis Miller), Philosophy and Poetry: Continental Perspectives ed. (Columbia University Press, 2019), Plastic Tagore (Oxford University Press, forthcoming) and the trilogy that he is completing to establish the discipline of plastic humanities: The Plastic Turn (Cornell University Press, 2022), Plastic Figures (Cornell University Press, 2024, forthcoming) and Plastic Literature (forthcoming).
Lesung und Q&A mit Sumana Roy
17.10.2023
Heine Haus Literaturhaus, 18:30
Sumana Roy ist Autorin von How I Became a Tree, ein Sachbuch, Missing: A Novel, My Mother’s Lover and Other Stories, und zwei Gedichtsammlungen, Out of Syllabus und V. I. P: Very Important Plant. Sie ist Associate Professor für Englisch und kreatives Schreiben an der Ashoka Universität. Sie las aus How I Became a Tree und anderen Werken.
(Neo-)Baroque Aesthetics in Literature: Verbal-Visual Configurations and Frame-Breakings
13.10.2023
This conference was dedicated to exploring the pronounced visuality that is a formative, yet understudied element of the (Neo-)Baroque aesthetics. The individual contributions examined verbal-visual configurations as an integral part of a locally and temporally specific (Neo-)Baroque aesthetics, while also tracing transcultural and transhistorical forms of (ex-)change.
The conference was generously funded by the DFG and the GFFU; it was part of a larger CHLEL project.
For more information, visit the conference website.
Summer School Literaturübersetzen 2023: Translating Comics, Graphic Novels and Video Games
22. - 24.06.2023
Die Summer School 2023 des Masterstudiengangs Literaturübersetzen fand vom 22. bis 24. Juni statt und beschäftigte sich mit Theorie und Praxis zum Thema "Translating Comics, Graphic Novels and Video Games". An der Summer School kann jede:r teilnehmen. Mehr Informationen finden Sie hier.
Gastvortrag von Caryl Phillips: A House is not a Home
19.06.2023
Heine Haus Literaturhaus Düsseldorf
In diesem Vortrag befasste sich der Schriftsteller, Dramatiker und Essayist Caryl Phillips mit dem amerikanischen Autor James Baldwin (1924-1987), der sich während seiner Schaffenszeit viel außerhalb der USA aufhielt, vor allem in Frankreich. Um sein Leben im Exil geht es Phillips, der eine Freundschaft zu Baldwin pflegte.
Translation and the Archive: Internationales Symposium
31.05. - 02.06.2023
Das Symposium "Translation and the Archive: Performance, Practice, Negotiation" beschäftigte sich mit Wechselwirkungen von individuellen und kulturellen Übersetzungsprozessen einerseits und Archivbildungsprozessen andererseits. Nach einem PhD-Workshop und der Keynote Lecture von Ato Quayson folgte ein Programm mit internationalen Gästen, die sich der Thematik aus unterschiedlichen disziplinären Perspektiven näherten.
Alle weiteren Informationen finden Sie hier.
Translating the Archive: Literarische Reihe
31.05. - 19.06.2023
Esther Dischereit las und performte Blumen für Otello, welches sich mit rechtsextremistischen Verbrechen in Deutschland beschäftigt. Oxana Chi und Layla Zami zeigten in I STEP ON AIR in Erinnerung an die Dichterin und Aktivistin May Ayim eine multimediale Performance aus Tanz, Poesie, Theater und Live Musik. In seinem Vortrag A House is not a Home beschäftigte sich Schriftsteller, Dramatiker und Essayist Caryl Phillips mit dem amerikanischen Autor James Baldwin, welcher zu seiner Schaffenszeit lange außerhalb der USA lebte, vor allem in Frankreich.
Die literarische Reihe Translating the Archive fand im Rahmen des CTS-Symposiums Translation and the Archive statt.
Mehr Informationen finden Sie auf der Website.
From Neoliberal Crime in "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" to Transcultural Solidarity in "Queen of the Desert": Gastvortrag von Professor Guido Rings
24.04.2023
After his major success as New German Cinema director, e.g. with films like Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Nosferatu the Vampyre, Werner Herzog started very different cinematic experiments in Los Angeles, for which films like Grizzly Man, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans and Queen of the Desert are just a few examples. However, research on his more recent films is limited and there is no in-depth analysis of his cinematic development from the '70s to contemporary work, although his films are clearly linked through their robust critique of neoliberalism and (neo-) colonialism.
In his guest lecture, Professor Rings explored Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Queen of the Desert as key examples from both periods of Herzog’s oeuvre. In particular, he examined the continuities and discontinuities in the neoliberal and (neo-) colonial critique in these two films. Furthermore, he asked which alternatives are being suggested to break with the systemic violence of neoliberalism and (neo-) colonialism, and he analysed in how far the cinematic development correlates with a different take on humanity. Findings include numerous continuities in Herzog's robust critique of human tribalism, but also substantial discontinuities that seem to correlate with different conceptualisations of humanity.
Guido Rings is Emeritus Professor of Postcolonial Studies, co-director of the Anglia Ruskin Research Centre for Intercultural and Multilingual Studies (ARRCIMS), and co-founder of iMex and German as a Foreign Language, the first internet journals in Europe for their respective fields. Professor Rings has widely published within different areas of intercultural and postcolonial studies. This includes The Cambridge Introduction to Intercultural Communication (CUP 2022, with S. Rasinger), The Cambridge Handbook of Intercultural Communication (CUP 2020, ed. with S. Rasinger), The Other in Contemporary Migrant Cinema (Routledge 2018), La Conquista desbaratada (Iberoamericana 2010), and more than 50 refereed articles.