| Calgary gets a taste of Montreal this week with a special conference at the University of Calgary, "Translating Translating Montreal." It’s a two-day focus on the oft-overlooked art of translation, bringing together four Montreal heavyweights from the field – Oana Avasilichioaei, Angela Carr, Robert Majzels and Erin Mouré – to discuss the practice and share their own works.
Majzels is a recent Montreal transplant to Calgary, who has taught creative writing at the university for the past semester. He’s won a Governor General’s Award for his translation of France Daigle’s poetry, and his creative work has used translations from French, Hebrew and Chinese. He says that the conference has three main goals. First: addressing a lack of translation.
"Erin Mouré and I have been worrying, lately, about the absence of translation from other languages in Canada," he says. "It turns out that less than three per cent of the total books published in English worldwide are translations from other languages, which is quite the opposite to other languages that translate a much larger number of books from English. This, of course, reflects the political and economic domination of English-speaking countries, but it poses a problem for writers and readers in English: our whole culture and literature are becoming increasingly narrower in the absence of other voices, languages and cultures."
Publishers, he says, are reluctant to engage in translation because it’s more profitable to convince other countries to translate their books. "Canada is very well-positioned to produce translations," Majzels adds, "because of the immigrant population and the multiplicity of languages here."
The conference’s second concern is the ethics of translation: "How do you open up to other cultures and voices without dominating them, domesticating them, or in some way disappearing the original text? You need to allow your own language, in some way, to be transformed by this new voice, through a careful and open approach."
Finally, the panelists (all poets themselves) will discuss the creative possibilities of translation. "Contemporary poets are, more and more, using translation in their own poems," says Majzels. "You have homolinguistic translation (English-to-English translation) and homophonic translation (translating from a language you don’t necessarily understand, based on the sounds of the words). I thought it would be interesting to introduce translation as a new arrow in the arsenal of techniques for local poets."
Panel discussions on translation take place on March 8 from 2:30 to 5:00 p.m. at the University of Calgary (Learning Commons Room, Biology 540A), which will include Mouré’s "Co-Translating ‘Nicole Brossard’: Three-Way Spectacle or Spectre de Trois?"; Avasilichioaei’s "Towards a multiplied authorship and against a transparent I: in translational collaboration with the work of Paul Celan and Nichita Stanescu"; Angela Carr’s "Undercover/undiscover: Love and Eros between Languages"; and Majzels’s "Whittling: Translating Tang Dynasty Poets into 85 Letters."
Then, the foursome will perform two public readings of their work. The first, Mountroyal!, is on March 8 at 7:00 p.m., at the University of Calgary (Science Theatres 147); the second, Vacheville!, is on March 9 at 7:00 p.m., at The New Gallery. Entry to both readings is by donation.
The flywheel turns again this week, as the reading series is invaded by NoD magazine. On top of the usual prizes and literary fanfare, we’ll be treated to poetic performances by Douglas Briggs, Sarah Gibbs, Diana Lyuber and Paul William Zits on March 1 at 7:30 p.m., at McNally Robinson.
Also that night, Lorne Perry presents Drawing from the Mountains: An Illustrated Journey, a collection of photographs ranging from the staggering beauty of Rocky Mountain peaks to the brutal intensity of a grizzly attack. Join him on the 4th floor of the Castell Central Library on March 1 at 7:00 p.m.
Freedom to Read Week is coming to a close, but before it’s over, don’t miss the 24 Hour Reading Marathon. Starting at 7:00 p.m., the Imaginative Fiction Writers Association will present performances of science fiction and fantasy and the winners of the Calgary Public Library’s junior high school essay contest will read their work. Then, from 9:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., the marathon is on! Come on out for a test of endurance, reading from banned and forbidden texts at McNally Robinson, March 2 to 3.
On March 6 at 5:00 p.m., head over to Pages on Kensington, where Mark McWatt, Peter Oliva and Aritha van Herk announce the 2007 winners of the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize, Canada and Caribbean region. Congratulate the winners, and enjoy wine and cheese.
Red Mile Revenge host Selina Clary is joined by an ebullient host of local writers in what is sure to be a wine-soaked evening of delight and debauchery. Interested in sharing your work? Show up early – the action starts on March 6 at 8:00 p.m., at Victoria’s Bistro and Lounge.
Veering over to politics, J.L. Granatstein hits town this week with Whose War Is it? How Canada Can Survive in the Post-9/11 World. Behind the vaguely-alarmist title is an impassioned call for a revised Canadian foreign and military policy in Canada. He’ll be at the Military Museum on March 7 at 6:30 p.m.
Finally, the CBC Literary Awards have been announced. This year’s winners of the prestigious prizes are: Méira Cook, Kelly Hugo Dubreuil, Norah Drukker, Dania El-Khechen, Isabelle Forest, Amy Jones, Rachel Leclerc, André Marois, Josée Owen, Carrie Snyder, Leona Theis and Mélanie Vincelette. For full details, visit www.radio-canada.ca/prixlitteraires. |
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