This Special Subject explores the challenges and creative opportunities of translating pre-modern texts (broadly late medieval to eighteenth century). We study how translation has shaped archives and canons over the centuries; how paratexts—prefaces, notes, dedications, glosses—have mediated power and meaning; and how contemporary translators might respond to gendered and racializing legacies while also letting early modern texts expand our conceptual vocabularies and inspire creative translation practice today.
Key Questions:
- What creative strategies are available when translating pre-modern texts, and how do they differ from approaches to modern or contemporary material?
- How do paratexts (such as prefaces, dedications, marginalia, and notes) frame or constrain the reader’s reception of translations?
- How might the forms of early modern books, be they in manuscript or print, offer creative inspiration for translation work today?
- In what ways has translation historically contributed to the construction of archives, canons, and cross-cultural intellectual networks?
- How do issues of gender, race, religion, and coloniality manifest in the translation and circulation of pre-modern texts?
- What ethical responsibilities does the translator bear when working with texts implicated in histories of violence, exclusion, or conquest?
- Can pre-modern forms of language and thought offer models for expanding contemporary vocabularies and conceptual frameworks?
- How might experimental, performative, or multimodal translation practices reimagine the pre-modern for present-day audiences?
- How do questions of authorship, anonymity, and collaborative translation in the pre-modern period challenge modern assumptions about the translator’s role?
Languages: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish
Assessment Format: EITHER an essay or a portfolio of essays of between 5,000 and 7,000 OR a translation and self-reflective piece of between 5,000-7,000 words.