Over time, Translation Studies scholarship has employed a number of terms to describe the flow of literary translations from languages that are ‘less often the source of translation in the international exchange of linguistic goods’ (Branchadell, 2005). These terms have included ‘translation as imposition’, to describe translation activity ‘driven by the source culture’ (Dollerup, 1995); ‘source-culture driven’ translations (Zauberga, 2005); ‘literary gifts’ from the ‘source pole’ (Leppihalme, 2006), and more recently, ‘supply-driven translation’ (Vimr, 2015, 2020; Hellewell 2018). Necessarily, the scholars who employ these terms have tended to focus on stand-alone case studies in their respective cultural contexts of interest. These case studies are necessary in building up a picture of how literary translations travel from the so-called periphery to a perceived centre, but is there more to be done in bringing these studies together?
The Supplying TranslationDigital Symposium aims to bring together scholars and translators of less translated languages to share case studies of source-oriented approaches, and to find commonalities and differences between supply-driven translation activity in a range of cultural contexts. Some of the questions that we hope to explore include:
- how might drives to supply literary translations vary in different contexts, and why?
- how does a framework of supply-driven translation differ from previous iterations of similar concepts?
- could an awareness of supply-driven translation processes challenge existing concepts of centre and periphery?
- can source-oriented approaches assist calls for greater diversity in publishing in the UK?
- could greater awareness of supply-driven translation processes improve working conditions for translators?
Download the two-day programme here.
The event is organised by ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Olivia Hellewell, and will be hosted online by the University of Nottingham.