The talk is streamed via Zoom. Join URL: https://aarhusuniversity.zoom.us/j/69621091526 to attend.  

Speaker: Professor Michelle Hartman: Professor and Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University 

Abstract

Critical trends in translation studies today focus on what is gained in translation: crossing borders, sharing across languages, building bridges between cultures, and overcoming difference. Another paradigm identifies the translator as traitor and what is lost in translation. This talk discusses the politics of translating fiction from Arabic to English, using critical perspectives from translation studies and my experience as a translator to explore ways the dynamics of loss and gain play out in the translation of Arab women literature from Arabic to English.  

Short bio

Michelle Hartman is Professor of Arabic Literature and Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University (Canada). She is also a literary translator who has translated more than a dozen works of fiction from Arabic into English. Her most recent translations (Interlink Publishing) include two memoirs: Radwa Ashour’s, The Journey  and Nawal Baidoun’s Memoirs of Militant (co-translated with Caline Nasrallah) and two novels forthcoming in 2021: Jana Elhassan’s All the Women Inside Me (2021) and Shahla Ujayli’s IPAF shortlisted historical fiction, Summer with the Enemy.

What is an AIAS Seminar?

The AIAS Seminar is a session of seminars held by the AIAS fellow or by other speakers proposed by the fellows. In each seminar, one fellow will present and discuss his/her current research and research project, closing off with a question and discussion session.

All seminars are held in English.