Last July UVic-UCC lecturer Ronald Puppo led a short course on literary translation at the Institut Ramon Llull, Barcelona, Curs d’Especialització en Estudis Catalans: Taller de Traducció Literària (6 al 10 de juliol de 2015). The video record above has just been published and below Ron tells us about his experience of the workshop.
Leading this workshop was a delight! Located in the inspiringly beautiful Bernat Lesfargues Library at IRL headquarters on Avinguda Diagonal, we all enjoyed the privilege of working in elegant surroundings with state-of-the-art technology, all splendidly prepared by the friendly, efficient and beyond-the-call-of-duty IRL staff. Exploring fascinating texts by Catalan writers such as Manuel de Pedrolo, Sílvia Aymerich, Bel Olid, Mercè Saurina and more, the emerging translators who took part proved to be highly energized, wonderfully motivated, and archly capable of tackling the thorniest of textual and contextual challenges. No two versions of a text were ever alike, of course, and writerly creativity fused with scholarly rigor to show the truth so famously encapsulated in George Steiner’s remark that translation is “an exact art.”
There’s no doubt about it. The new generation of Catalan-English literary translators are well on their way to broadening and enriching the field of intercultural encounter through translation!
We look forward to future courses in a similar vein. Watch this space.
- Record de la Xesca - 11.06.2024
- Translating for universities - 16.05.2024
- Open expert conversations 2024 - 06.03.2024
