Aims of Our Research
This project creates the opportunity for the first sustained comparative analysis of how, through translation, the contemporary literatures of smaller or less well represented European nations endeavour to reach the cultural mainstream. It brings together researchers from typical examples - Czech and Slovak, Portuguese, Scandinavian and South Slav - who work as cultural translators in both academic and public-facing contexts.
Through case studies in their own areas of specialism, an academic conference, a series of public workshops, and interviews and other engagement with professionals and bodies involved in the translation of these literatures, the project team will explore the following core research questions:
- How are the literatures of small European nations translated across borders? Who participates in the translation of the literature of small nations? How do they perceive their role? What role do national and international institutions play?
- What are the opportunities for and barriers to wider European dissemination through translation of the literatures of under-represented or semi-peripheral European nations and regions?
- To what extent do these literatures constitute a discrete literary system in their interaction with the 'centre'? To what extent and why do 'peripheries' interact through translation without recourse to the 'centre'? How valid is the ‘centre and periphery’ model when applied to the cultural dynamics of translation in European literature?
- How does the international reception of the literatures of small European nations influence canon formation, the writing of literary history and a nation’s perception of its literature and literary status?
- What is the role played by cultural stereotypes, defining historical episodes, dominant single figures or genres and other international shorthand? To what extent do they hinder or facilitate the translation process?
