THE TRANSLATION TURN IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN FICTION

Based on a talk by Professor Edwin Gentzler, University of Massachusetts Amherst

The United States is made up of many immigrants, refugees and migrants, with 150 different languages spoken across the country. In his talk at the Literature, Travel, Translation symposium, Prof Edwin Gentzler explains America's surge of interest in both translation studies and commerically translated fiction, arguing that the country is embracing a new spirit of diversity.

Listen to the full talk below:

Take a look at the tomes on the shelf at your local bookseller. Chances are that amongst the bestseller lists are works translated from another language into English; travel books borrowing from and describing other dialects and cultures; and novels written by authors who are themselves bi- or multi-lingual.

Susan Bassnett and André Lefevere’s seminal 1990 book Translation, History and Culture put translation studies on the map in the US, saying that scholars need to investigate “the production of culture, of which the production of translations is a part”. This followed on from their 1998 book Constructing Cultures where the pair professed “it is time for cultural studies to take the ‘translation turn’ and move translation to the centre stage in culture studies”.

Professor Edwin Gentzler from the University of Massachusetts is Director of the Translation Center and has seen a surge of interest in both translation studies and commercial translated fiction throughout the course of his career. In his lecture at the Literature, Travel, Translation symposium he quipped “for better or for worse our cultural studies people have discovered translation”. He also joked about the term ‘post-translation studies’ remarking that translation studies itself is still not established in some places.

So why the rise in popularity? In his 2008 book Translation and Identity in the Americas Gentzler wrote that the US primarily consists of immigrants, refugees and migrants. Translation, he says, has the ongoing power to include or exclude. Over 150 languages are spoken in the US, with the US being the second largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. In respect of recognising this cultural and linguistic diversity creative writers and publishers have been far ahead of the academics.

Large US publishers are now taking more risks with translated fiction writers.

By Penelope Jenkins