-
Translation aka Messing with Language: A Conversation with Roy Kesey
Back in September, I had the joy of interviewing author and translator Roy Kesey as part of our Annual Translation Symposium. We discussed Dark Constellations, translation, travel, the Norman Invasion of England, colonialism, poetry, Dr, Seuss, and our shared hatred of Ayn Rand’s books. Here you will find a (lightly) abridged transcript of our talk…
-
Art, Poetry, and Translation: A Conversation with Martin Corless-Smith
On September 16 and 17, Miami University’s Creative Writing Program hosted a two-day Translation Symposium. Martin Corless-Smith, an English poet and translator, was one of the Symposium guests, alongside two other creative writers and translators, Poupeh Missaghi and Roy Kesey. Corless-Smith’s most recent book, Odious Horizons: Some Versions of Horace, was published by Miami University…
-
Je Ne Sais Quoi: Miami’s Third Annual Translation Symposium
Translation, as mentioned by Kinsey Cantrell in the previous post, is generally seen as a service instead of an art, where the translator is simply rendering a poem into a different language. The assumption is that translation is as much an art as transcribing the words of someone else. However, as English Ambassador Abigail Mechley…
-
Claudia Keelan: Female Troubadours and Feminism
As a Creative Writing major, I’ve written poems, plays, prose. As an Italian minor, I’ve studied language extensively, including literature in other languages. Despite that, before studying it in my poetry workshop, I’d never given translation much thought. I never considered translation a form of creative writing; if the original was the creative writing piece,…
-
The Poetics of Translation: Miami University’s Annual Translation Symposium
“Isn’t English good enough for you?” Charles Bernstein asked in a 2010 interview with translator Erin Mouré. It’s a question that leads me to reflect on the emotional investment of the translator. What can she offer as a poet to a work that she is translating? How can she retain the original connection the author…