Workshop/Seminar for Literary Translation. 4th June (Saturday), 2005, 5th June (Sunday)

Announcement

Venue: Scarborough Civic Centre (Saturday)

Room 108 North House, Munk Centre, University of Toronto

Time: 9:30 am – 6:00 pm (Saturday)

10:00 am – 1:00 pm (Sunday)

Registration: All those wanting to participate in the translation workshop must register by 20th May, 2005, by sending your name, phone number, email address and a brief description of yourself of kalam@tamilbook.com. Those who wish to attend the lectures and discussions but not participate in the workshop do not have to register.

Please Note that there will be a book exhibition from 9:30 am to 9:00 pm at the Scarborough Civic Centre on Saturday, 4th June. The exhibition is open to the public and no registration is required.

The objective of this workshop is to introduce students, authors, and critics to the art of literary translation. Given the complexity and richness of literature in Tamil, and the paucity of this material in translation, there is an urgent need to foster a literary climate that encourages scholars and students to undertake translations on a regular and systematic basis. The focus of this workshop will be entirely on translating literary texts from Tamil to English. While allusions will be made to classical literary texts in Tamil and Tamil writing from other countries, the emphasis will be on translating contemporary Sri Lankan literature in Tamil.

The various sessions of the day-long workshop have been designed to familiarize potential translators with the fundamental principles of translations. We will use a small number of poems in order to facilitate a discussion about the issues and problems of translation. The poems will be samples rather than representative selections. During the course of the day, we will look closely at the history of translation theory, at literary modes and conventions that are specific to literature in Tamil, and at literary forms in English. Good translations have the potential to enrich the original, and in order to accomplish this objective, we need translators who have a nuanced awareness of the practice of translation.

Since the workshop will entail both discussion and hand-on practice sessions, we hope to limit the number of registrants. Each participant will be assigned a poem for him/her to translate during the workshop. Dr. Holmstrom, Mr. Parthipan, and Dr. Richman will conduct the workshops. The only prerequisite for participation is a good working knowledge of Tamil and fluency in English. The proceedings of the workshop, including the translations, will be published.

Workshop Leaders:

Lakshmi Holmstrom(Teaches English at University of East Anglia, UK. Scholar, editor and translator.)

Paula Richman (Professor of Religious Studies, Oberlin College. Scholar and Translator)

V. Parthipan (Lecturer, Tamil Academy of Arts and Science. Critic and Translator)

Speakers:

G. Ramachandran

Indran Amirthanayagam

V. Venkatramanan

Chelva Kanaganayakam

Coordinator: Cheran

Moderator:Nithianandan

Program:

Day – 1 Venue: Scarborough Civic Centre (Saturday, 4th June)

9:30 – 9:45 Introduction to Workshop. (Cheran )

9:45 – 10:15 Translation Theory – Principles and Practice (Kanaganayakam)

10:15-10.45 Ramachandran

10:45 – 11:15 Tea/Coffee

11.15-12:15 Amirthanayagam and Venkatramanan

12:15 – 1:15 Lunch

1:15 – 2:30 Workshop (Holmstrom, Richman, Parthipan)

2: 30 – 3:00 Tea/Coffee

3:00 – 4: 30 Workshop (Holmstrom, Richman, Parthipan)

4:30 – 5:30 Roundtable (Moderator – Nithianandan)

5:30-6:00 Summing Up (Cheran)

Day 2 Venue: Room 108 North House, Munk Centre

10:00 – 11:00 Reading by translators

11:00 – 12: 00 Holmstrom, Parthipan, and Richman

12:00 – 12:45 Panel Discussion (Moderator: TBA)

12: 45 – 1:00 Conclusion (Iyer)

Lunch

vvenkat@sympatico.ca