On the one hand, the workshop focuses on the relevance of studying translations in the context of narrative theory. It seems somehow self-evident that narrative theory can draw on the translations of literary narratives and that the translation does not affect the way in which the text should be analyzed.

Still, significant shifts can occur on the level of narrative strategies, when a text is translated into another language. Ways in which perspective or narrative voice are rendered can vary from language to language. This is not just a matter of stylistic features, but also of narrative features. In this respect, the workshop wants to specify the narratological relevance of examining translations.

On the other hand, the workshop will explore how the models developed in narrative theory can enrich the study of translations. Translation scholars have long campaigned for increased recognition of the translator’s voice in the study of translated fiction. Among other things, this has resulted in attempts to broaden existing models of narrative communication to account for the presence of the translator in narrative fiction.

Ironically, however, the calls for greater awareness of the translator’s involvement were issued at a moment when postclassical approaches to narrative were challenging anthropomorphic conceptions of authorship implied by traditional (structuralist and rhetorical) approaches to narrative. The workshop aims to show how these new developments in postclassical narratology may be inserted in ongoing debates about the translator’s discursive presence in translated narrative. More generally, the workshop will examine how narrative analysis can be implemented in translation studies and in comparative analyses of translations.

Keynote speakers are Theo Hermans (University College London) and Gerald Prince (University of Pennsylvania). The full program of the workshop can be accessed via the following link: www.vertalen.augent.be/narratology. The deadline for registration is September 10.

Please feel free to forward this information to interested colleages.

Ilse Logie (Ghent University)

On behalf of the Research Group 'Literature in Translation' and the organizing committee (Lars Bernaerts, Michael Boyden, Liesbeth De Bleeker, July De Wilde)