Symposium Cumanum 2014–Call for Papers

Symposium Cumanum 2014: Vergil’s Translators
June 26-28

The Vergilian Society invites papers for the Symposium Cumanum, which will take place June 26-28 (arrival 25^th, departure 29^th), 2014 at the Villa Vergiliana in Cumae.

In the recent years translation theory has become a prominent branch of classical reception studies. While Vergil’s poems, especially the Aeneid, have been translated into many languages, including Czech, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Hebrew, and Hungarian, not to mention the languages of Western Europe, the issue of a canonical, universally accepted translation still remains a burning question.

The 2014 Symposium Cumanum would like to invite a broad variety of papers to address Vergil’s translations from ideological, aesthetic, and literary points of view. The Symposium will focus on how translations of Vergil can be understood, analyzed, and interpreted in their full political, ideological, and literary contexts and will address broader issues in translation theory and practice like the ones identified below:

* How do translations affect and influence national cultures and nation building?
* Different ideologies of translations such as ‘literalism’, ‘foreignization’, ‘free’ translations. Do Vergilian translations, in order to obtain longevity, need to become a work of national literature that can stand on their own? How much can a translation be ‘modernized’ or ‘domesticated’?
* What is the aesthetic and literary value of translated Vergilian texts in the receiving culture?
*How can a translation reflect the prosody and ‘music’ of the Vergilian texts?
*How does gender affect translation practices?

Format:

We offer this time a slightly different format for the Symposium: instead of reading papers aloud, it would be beneficial if each participant provides the others with his/her paper in advance of the Symposium. The presentation of each paper then can be no more that 10 minutes with 20 minutes for discussion. This format will ensure more thorough engagement of all the participants and deeper familiarity with the fellow scholars’ work.

Please send the abstracts (no more than 250 words) to Zara M. Torlone at torlonzm@miamioh.edu. Deadline: December 1^st, 2013.

Dates: The arrival day for the participants will be June 25^rd with the Symposium lasting three full days and including visits to some Vergilian sites. Departure date Sunday, June 29^th.