The Redress of Elegance and Precision. The translation of Seymour Mayne's word sonnets

MARÍA LAURA SPOTURNO

St Andrews

Conferencia; Research Seminar; 2016

University of St Andrews

Standing at the crossroads of disciplines including linguistics, foreign languages, and comparative literature, (Bassnett, 1991; Venuti, 1998, 2002), translation is beyond doubt relevant for the creative communication across languages and cultures. More particularly, literary translation stands as an area of study and practice, which offers ideal room for reflection, experimentation and creativity. This seminar has two main goals: 1. to introduce a few theoretical terms and issues regarding poetry translation, 2. to explore the poetic work of Jewish Canadian poet Seymour Mayne (b. 1944) and the problems relating to its translation into Spanish and French. Seymour Mayne is regarded as a key pioneer of the word sonnet, an elegant fourteen line poem, with one word set for each line, which often condenses a visual and sudden image or thought. This seminar addresses a basic though essential question: How is meaning built in a set of word sonnets which seem to define their nature in the combination of multilingual, intercultural, and visual elements? And consequently, how is meaning to be recreated and rendered in the target text and culture? It will be argued that the creative process evident in the source text should be central in the design of relevant translation strategies.Nota: Se trató de una exposición oral.