CFP: posted on behalf of the Renaissance Society of America
April 19, 2016
Call for Papers
Translation Theory and Practice during the Renaissance: A Medium, a Genre, a Risk
Sessions sponsored by the Toronto Renaissance and Reformation Colloquium at the
Renaissance Society of America annual meeting in Chicago, 30 March-1 April 2017
In past and recent years, many studies focused on literary translation highlighted how translators’ strategies modified or remained unvaried from Late Antiquity to the Early Modern period. In Europe, literary translations started to spread as an autonomous and interdisciplinary genre in the late fifteenth-century, when the first generation of Humanists felt the need for more and more refined renditions of Ancient Greek authors than were currently available. With time, this demand increased and translations became not only a typically humanistic enterprise but also a means to avow liberty and critical thinking at the crossroad of religious polemics, discussions on the value of classical literature, and new literary creations based on ancient works. Martin Luther, for one, advanced the Reformation on the wings of his German translation of the Bible, while in Catholic countries the Inquisition meticulously controlled the translation of sacred and secular texts.
The proposed sessions seek to explore the different ways translations affirmed their status in the languages and literatures of Renaissance Europe. Possible topics include both the theoretical reflections of early modern authors and their concrete works (c. 1300-1700): to wit, versions of classical texts and Holy Scriptures as well as of contemporary texts into Latin, Hebrew, Arab, and the various European vernaculars.
Please send an abstract (150 words maximum) with relevant keywords and a 300-word maximum curriculum vitae to johnny.bertolio@mail.utoronto.