Comparative Literature: Principles, Practices, and Perspectives. - Summer School, June

Transcription

1 Comparative Literature: Principles, Practices, and Perspectives - Summer School, June

2 Welcome Comparative Literature is the most diverse of disciplines. At heart, however, its many methodological problems boil down to a few very simple questions. How best to compare conflicting traditions and languages? How do the many ways that this has been done in the past inform how we might go about doing so in the future? And can one even compare the apples of one literature with the pears of another? Anyone who is interested in reading widely has a stake in these basic questions. Organized by the Centre for Modern European Literature at the University of Kent and generously funded by the Consortium for the Humanities in the South East (CHASE) this summer school offers intensive training in the underlying principles, the variant practices, and the latest perspectives of comparative literature. The theoretical assumptions and practical implications of the discipline are so diverse that a residential programme focusing on its common causes is long overdue in the UK. Designed to include both European and non-european perspectives on comparison, this summer school brings together postgraduate students working in the many fields of comparative literature, introducing them to leading specialists in the discipline and offering them a valuable opportunity for both intellectual training and institutional networking. Three days of learning from each other, three days of broadening both our intellectual and our institutional horizons. What a treat is in store for all of us. Ben Hutchinson, Director of the Centre for Modern European Literature University of Kent 1

3 Programme NB. All seminars will take place in Grimond Seminar Room 2 Monday 25 th June am Breakfast at Dolce Vita Restaurant Keynes 9.30am Coffee and welcome 10am Student introductions 11am Seminar 1: The Origins and History of Comparative Literature (Ben Hutchinson) 1pm Lunch 2pm Seminar 2: Doing World Literature (Francesca Orsini) 4pm Tea and biscuits 5.30pm Keynote lecture 1 (Grimond Lecture Theatre 2): Marcel Lepper, 1968 from a global perspective 8pm Conference Dinner Tuesday 26 June am Breakfast at Dolce Vita Restaurant Keynes 9.30am Coffee and catch-up 10am Seminar 3: The Pragmatics of Comp Lit: Publishing and Applying for Jobs 11am Seminar 4: Comparative Literature and Translation Studies (Duncan Large) 1pm Lunch 2pm Preparation of presentations (Templeman Library) 5.30pm Keynote lecture 2 (Grimond Lecture Theatre 2): Wen-Chin Ouyang, The Silk Road and World Literature 8pm Dinner Wednesday 27 June am Breakfast at Dolce Vita Restaurant Keynes 9.30am Student presentations 1pm Lunch 2pm Student presentations 5.30pm End and departure 2

4 Seminars 1) Ben Hutchinson: The Origins and History of Comparative Literature Where does comparative literature come from? When does it begin? Examining the origins of the discipline allows us to understand how it has always been contingent and contextually specific: from British and German philologists in India to French savants in North Africa, from colonial empire building in the nineteenth century to the Jewish diaspora of the twentieth century, the development of comparative literature is intimately tied to the political upheavals of modernity. For better or for worse, the origins of the modern discipline within Europe cannot be disassociated from the post-westphalian framework of nation-states out of which it evolved. If comparative literature has become ever more politicized over the course of its history, it is only through exploring this history that its present state and possible future status can be fully appreciated. Ben Hutchinson is Professor of European Literature and Co-Director of the Centre for Modern European Literature at the University of Kent. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the BCLA, a Fellow of the Academy of Europe, a Philip Leverhulme Prize winner, and author of numerous books of and on comparative literature, including, most recently, Lateness and Modern European Literature (OUP, 2016) and Comparative Literature: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2018). 2) Francesca Orsini: Doing world literature World literature has re-emerged in the last two decades as comparative literature for the globalised age. No longer envisioned as a canon of great works by dead white men, it has reinvented itself as the study of literature in the world from three main critical perspectives: (a) the study of world literature as a system, with centres and peripheries, hierarchies and positions marked on a global map (Moretti, Casanova, Warwick Collective); (b) the study of the circulation of works in the world outside their culture of origin and the dynamics of reception and reading (Damrosch); (c) literary works as worlds in themselves (Hayot). If, as Franco Moretti has argued, world literature is not an object, it s a problem, and a problem that asks for a new critical method (2000), this session will ask: how appropriate and useful have these approaches been? How can we do world literature in ways that do not flatten the world and take its multilingualism seriously, and that factor our location and the location of our objects of study seriously? Francesa Orsini is Professor of Hindi and South Asian Literature at SOAS. A Fellow of the British Academy, she is a member of the Executive Committee of the BCLA, Editor of Comparative Critical Studies, and PI of ERC project Multilingual Locals and Significant Geographies. 3

5 3) The Pragmatics of Comp Lit: Publishing and Applying for Jobs (BH, DL, FO) Surviving and thriving in the world of comparative literature can be a fraught business. How best to go about publishing books and journal articles? How to give oneself the best possible chance on the job market? How to think strategically as well as intellectually? This seminar will consider these and related questions in an attempt to give students practical as well as theoretical guidance on how to begin a career in comparative literature. Students are welcome to raise any such issues they would like to address, either before or during the seminar. 4) Duncan Large: Comparative Literature and Translation Studies Comparative literature and translation studies are close cousins after all, comparatists have to rely on translations when they reach the limits of their linguistic competence, and translation serves as a model for the act of comparison itself. But historically there have been tensions between the two, especially in the late twentieth century when comparative literature was increasingly viewed as but a branch of translation studies. More recently, Emily Apter has problematized the reliance of world literature on translations, and invoked untranslatability as a deflationary gesture toward the expansionism and gargantuan scale of world-literary endeavours (2013, 3). We will consider not only whether comparative literature has a problem with translation and (if so) what can be done about it but also the ways in which translation studies as a discipline can contribute to comparative literary study. Duncan Large is Professor of European Literature and Translation at the University of East Anglia (Norwich) and Academic Director of the British Centre for Literary Translation. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the BCLA and chairs the PETRA-E Network of European literary translator training institutions. He is General Editor (with Alan D. Schrift) of The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche (Stanford University Press), and co-editor of Untranslatability: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Routledge, 2018). Keynote Lecturers Marcel Lepper is Director of the Literature Archive of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin. Previously he was Director of Research at the German Literature Archive, Marbach. His many publications include Quelle und Prinzip: Rhetorische Grundlagen, poetische Konzepte, philologische Metaphorik (2018), Goethes Euphrat. Philologie und Politik im West-östlichen Divan (2016), and Philologie. Zur Einführung (2012). He is currently leading a project funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung on 1968: Conflicts of Ideas in Global Archives. Wen-chin Ouyang is Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London. She is the author of Literary Criticism in Medieval Arabic-Islamic Culture: The Making of a Tradition (1997), Poetics of Love in the Arabic Novel (2012) and Politics of Nostalgia in the Arabic Novel (2013). She founded and co-edits Edinburgh Studies in Classical Arabic Literature, and is also Editor-in-Chief of Middle Eastern Literatures. She was a member of the judging panel for Man Booker International Prize for Fiction , and for Saif Ghobash Banipal Arabic Literary Translation Prize

6 General Information Internet Access Visitors to the University campus have the option of connecting to the open Wi-Fi network titled 'WiFi Guest' which is (a free service run by a company called 'The Cloud'). Once you connect your device to the open network you will be shown a "portal" or a "landing page" which is an initial web page that asks you to login. If you don't have an account then you will need to fill in a form that asks for your name and contact address, which then creates a free account for you. Library Access You are very welcome to use the library any time between 9am and 9pm. Entering the Library Building, you will see the Welcome Desk next to the barriers (on your left). Just briefly introduce yourself to the people working there and they will let you in. Contact Information Stephanie Obermeier: smo32@kent.ac.uk Ann-Christine Kinzer: acwak@kent.ac.uk If you need immediate assistance at any time during the event, please do give us a call. 5

7 Locations on Campus Your accommodation is in Keynes College (N 6). The Summer School will take place in Grimond (J 6). Seminar Room 2 has been reserved for our seminars and presentations; lunch, tea and coffee will be served in the Foyer. The Keynote Lectures on Monday and Tuesday will take place in the Grimond Lecture Theatre 2. The Library is the Heart of our Campus, being centrally located (J11). Nearby, you will find a small Campus supermarket called Essentials (J 14). The best coffee on Campus can be found at the Gulbenkian (J 10). Need more detailed walking directions? If so, just search for any Campus location online using the following link: 6

8 Locations in Town Arriving early? Why not visit some of the great Heritage sites our town has to offer? The principal points of interest are the Canterbury Cathedral, the Westgate Gardens, and the High Street. If you want to enjoy a good cup of coffee, we recommend Water Lane Brasserie, Micro Roastery, and Garage Coffee. It takes approx. 30 minute to walk from Campus to town (down the hill). There is, however, also a regular bus service from Keynes College. An informal welcome will take place on Sunday at 8pm at the Dolphin one of the nicest pubs in town. 7