Gender, Ethnicity, Class: Literary and Cultural Representation in English

Summary

What Do We Study

The core focus of the course is the study of literary texts originally written in English through their translations, highlighting different approaches to issues of gender, ethnicity, and social class. To carry out this study, various perspectives will be considered to approach the translated texts, which make up the five thematic blocks of the course:

BLOCK 1: The “cultural turn” in translation studies

BLOCK 2: The sociology of translation

BLOCK 3: Paratextuality

BLOCK 4: Censorship

BLOCK 5: Literary reception studies

Which is the Line of Thought

The line of thought of this course can be defined as a critical and interdisciplinary approach to literary translation, focused on how issues of gender, ethnicity, and social class are represented and transformed through the translation and reception of literary texts originally written in English.

Key elements of this line of thought:

- Cultural Studies: the general framework from which translations are analyzed, understanding them as cultural products that reflect and reproduce ideologies.

- Feminist Translation Studies: offer a critical perspective on how gender influences translation and how translation can serve as a tool for feminist activism.

- Sociology of Translation: examines the role of social agents (translators, editors, institutions) and the material conditions that shape the production and circulation of translations.

- Paratextuality: studies the elements that accompany the translated text (prefaces, notes, covers, etc.) and how they influence its interpretation.

- Censorship: explores how dominant ideologies can alter or suppress content during the translation process.

- Literary Reception Studies: analyzes how translated texts are received and interpreted in different cultural and historical contexts.

Overall, this line of thought promotes a critical and contextualized reading of translation, understanding it as an ideological and culturally situated act.

Theoretical and Practical Approaches

Baer, B. J., & Bassi, S. (2024). The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Sexuality (Oxford: Taylor & Francis Group, 2024). https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429462962  

Bassnett, Susan, ‘Preface to the Third Edition’, Translation Studies (London and New York: Routledge, 2003 [1980]), pp. 1-10

Bassnett, Susan, and André Lefevere, eds, Constructing Cultures: Essays on Literary Translation (Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 1998)

Bassnett, Susan, and Harish Trivedi, eds, Post-Colonial Translation. Theory and Practice (London and New York: Routledge, 1999)

Bourdieu, Pierre, ‘The Forms of Capital’, Handbook of Theory of Research for the Sociology of Education, ed. J. E. Richardson, trad. Richardson Nice (New York: Greenword Press, 1986), pp. 46-58 

― ‘Introduction’, Constructing a Sociology of Translation, eds. Michaela Wolf and Alexandra Fukari (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2007a) pp. 1-36

Curry Jansen, Sue, Censorship. The Knot That Binds Power and Knowledge (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1991)

Genette, Gérard, Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation, trad. Jane E. Lewin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997 [1987])

Datta, A., Hopkins, P., Johnston, L., Olson, E., & Silva, J. M. The Routledge Handbook of Gender and Feminist Geographies (London and New York: Routledge, 2020) https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315164748

Gentzler, Edwin, Contemporary Translation Theories (Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 2003)

Gentzler, Edwin, and Maria Tymoczko, eds, Translation and Power (Amherst and Boston: University of Massachussetts Press, 2002)

Hermans, Theo, ed, The Manipulation of Literature (London and New York: Routledge, 1985)

― Translating Others (Manchester: St. Jerome, 2006)

Lefevere, André, Translation, History, Culture. A Sourcebook (London and New York: Routledge, 1992a)

― Translation, Rewriting, and the Manipulation of Literary Fame (London and New York: Routledge, 1992b)

Merkle, D., & Baer, B. J. (Eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Censorship (London and New York: Routledge, 2025)

Robinson, D. Translation and Empire: Postcolonial Approaches Explained (Manchester: St. Jerome, 1997).

Tachtiris, C. Translation and Race (London and New York: Routledge , 2024)

Von Flotow-Evans, L., & Kamāl, H. The Routledge Handbook of Translation, Feminism and Gender (London and New York: Routledge, 2020)

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