james montgomery

Workshop Nicholas King, SJ (Academic Director, Theology, St Mary’s University, Twickenham) James Montgomery (Sir Thomas Adams’s Professor of Arabic, Executive Editor of the Library of Arabic Literature AMES, Cambridge) Moderator: Nathan MacDonald (Lecturer in Hebrew Bible, Divinity, Cambridge) The beginning of Western theorising of translation is often said to arrive with St Jerome’s Letter to Pammachius, in which the translator defends his Latin rendering of the Bible. This seminal text is largely referred to in support of ‘sense-for-sense’ translation, ignoring what might well be considered the more interesting exception to the rule made by St Jerome, namely that sacred scripture, ‘where even the order of the words is God’s doing’, must be translated word-for-word. Many would argue that even this is a claim too far, that sacred texts simply cannot be translated, and that translations from the original language in which the divine message was delivered are mere approximations (A. L. Tibawi, ‘Is the Qur’an translatable?’, in The Muslim World, vol. 52, 1962, pp. 4-16). How do we square such ideas with an evangelising purpose identifiable both in the Bible and the Koran? And where does the idea of the divinely inspired translator fit into such a model? The workshop will offer participants the opportunity to explore in detail the theological influences on, and consequences resulting from, the different kinds of strategies that are employed when translating sacred texts.

Workshop Nicholas King, SJ (Academic Director, Theology, St Mary’s University, Twickenham) James Montgomery (Sir Thomas Adams’s Professor of Arabic, Executive Editor of the Library of Arabic Literature AMES, Cambridge) Moderator: Nathan MacDonald (Lecturer in Hebrew Bible, Divinity, Cambridge) The beginning of Western theorising of translation is often said to arrive with St Jerome’s Letter to Pammachius, in which the translator defends his Latin rendering of the Bible. This seminal text is largely referred to in support of ‘sense-for-sense’ translation, ignoring what might well be considered the more interesting exception to the rule made by St Jerome, namely that sacred scripture, ‘where even the order of the words is God’s doing’, must be translated word-for-word. Many would argue that even this is a claim too far, that sacred texts simply cannot be translated, and that translations from the original language in which the divine message was delivered are mere approximations (A. L. Tibawi, ‘Is the Qur’an translatable?’, in The Muslim World, vol. 52, 1962, pp. 4-16). How do we square such ideas with an evangelising purpose identifiable both in the Bible and the Koran? And where does the idea of the divinely inspired translator fit into such a model? The workshop will offer participants the opportunity to explore in detail the theological influences on, and consequences resulting from, the different kinds of strategies that are employed when translating sacred texts.

Adriana X. Jacobs (Associate Professor and Cowley Lecturer in Modern Hebrew Literature; Fellow, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University of Oxford) James Montgomery (Sir Thomas Adams’s Professor of Arabic, Executive Editor of the Library of Arabic Literature, AMES, Cambridge) Rowan Williams (Master of Magdalene, Cambridge) Moderator: Marcus Tomalin (English/Engineering, Cambridge) Within the domain of literary translation, poetry has traditionally attracted a great deal of scholarly attention (Holmes 1970, 1988; Lefevere 1975, 1992; Bassnett 1980; Hermans 1985; Eco 2003; Robinson 2010; Jones 2011; Reynolds 2011, Drury 2015). The constraints offered by rhyme and meter may sometimes appear to justify the statement (often attributed to Robert Frost) that ‘poetry is that which is lost in translation’. The notion of translatability frequently seems to defy the very essence of poetry since it is a literary medium in which meaning and structural form seem to be inextricably linked. Even proponents of strikingly different approaches to poetry translation usually agree that any expectation of absolute ‘fidelity’ (whatever that is) must necessarily be qualified or compromised in one way or another. But which aspects of a given poem can be safely jettisoned, and which must be doggedly preserved? Nabokov’s literal approach contrasts with Ezra Pound’s ‘remakes’, and the ongoing debate sparked by Paul Celan’s work offers numerous challenging and conflicting insights. From crib translation to ‘versioning’, from tribute to parody, from Bringhurst’s ‘re-elicitings’ to Queneau’s exercises in style, translation has been an important aspect of creative practice for many influential poets. The panel discussion will explore the role of poetry translation in different cultures and historical periods from a range of theoretical and practical perspectives.

Adriana X. Jacobs (Associate Professor and Cowley Lecturer in Modern Hebrew Literature; Fellow, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University of Oxford) James Montgomery (Sir Thomas Adams’s Professor of Arabic, Executive Editor of the Library of Arabic Literature, AMES, Cambridge) Rowan Williams (Master of Magdalene, Cambridge) Moderator: Marcus Tomalin (English/Engineering, Cambridge) Within the domain of literary translation, poetry has traditionally attracted a great deal of scholarly attention (Holmes 1970, 1988; Lefevere 1975, 1992; Bassnett 1980; Hermans 1985; Eco 2003; Robinson 2010; Jones 2011; Reynolds 2011, Drury 2015). The constraints offered by rhyme and meter may sometimes appear to justify the statement (often attributed to Robert Frost) that ‘poetry is that which is lost in translation’. The notion of translatability frequently seems to defy the very essence of poetry since it is a literary medium in which meaning and structural form seem to be inextricably linked. Even proponents of strikingly different approaches to poetry translation usually agree that any expectation of absolute ‘fidelity’ (whatever that is) must necessarily be qualified or compromised in one way or another. But which aspects of a given poem can be safely jettisoned, and which must be doggedly preserved? Nabokov’s literal approach contrasts with Ezra Pound’s ‘remakes’, and the ongoing debate sparked by Paul Celan’s work offers numerous challenging and conflicting insights. From crib translation to ‘versioning’, from tribute to parody, from Bringhurst’s ‘re-elicitings’ to Queneau’s exercises in style, translation has been an important aspect of creative practice for many influential poets. The panel discussion will explore the role of poetry translation in different cultures and historical periods from a range of theoretical and practical perspectives.