Translation Review - The University of Texas at Dallas

More documents

Recommendations

Info

frantic dancing is going on. Terram springs its surprise asthe last word of the poem. I think I did spring some ofthat surprise by holding off “enemy,” or, as I might havesaid it, “hated,” until the penultimate word, but I lostsome of the force of its adjective, invisam, as Horaceintroduces it in the preceding line, in there like the wolfin the context of that rejoicing and that dancing, makingus wait for its attachment to its noun. I had to spring thesurprise more bluntly, less insidiously, by coupling adjectiveand noun, “enemy earth,” as the last two words, sosome of that complex activity of the last two lines wasirretrievably lost. Here again, I don’t see how I couldhave done it differently, because English syntax can’t dosome of the things Latin syntax can do. I couldn’t get itright, but my point is that this failure isn’t simply anexperience of disappointment, it’s also an experience ofvivid close reading. The work of the translator (I’m sureyou feel that too, as fellow-translators), when dealingwith a wonderful text, is the most intense and vivid kindof reading that there is, and there’s joy in this that thenecessary failure makes even more vivid. Of course thiscompensatory joy in the reading occurs only when youcan feel that you’ve after all done your best and broughtyour translation to the point of its inevitable helplessness.I’m no good at big generalizations, so I can onlyhave tried to show by several examples this experienceof thrilled readings, of the attempt by translation to showsome qual the many things it misses.100 books: $5 eachQ: What is the aesthetic of Dalkey Archive Press? Avant-garde? Experimental? Innovative?A: The “aesthetic” of the Press has been identified with all of those adjectives, but I have never agreed with any of them.There is certainlyanSpecialaesthetic on whichSale:bothSelectthe Review andanythe Press100areBooksbased, but I may not be in the best position to say what it is because for me thereis no set agenda. I respond to the writers and books I like, rather than trying to fit both of these into a formula. There are many so-calledexperimental works I don’t like, ones that basically go through the motions, ones that almost defy a reader to find anything engaging infrom the Dalkey Archive catalog for $5 eachthem.Several years ago someone in an interview tried to get from me a one-word description for the kinds of books we publish, and she suggestedthe words that you have. I finally said that the correct word was “subversive,” which is still the word I would use, though I know it’srather useless in terms of trying to pigeonhole what it is we publish. My point was that the books, in some way or another, upset the applecart, STEIN that they - MATHEWS work against - what SHKLOVSKY is expected, - that HIGGINS they in - some CELA way - challenge DUCORNET received - GASS notions, - ELKIN whether - those GREEN are literary, - LOEWINSOHNsocial or political.And this is precisely the kind of fiction that I find interesting: it does things I haven’t seen before, or it requires me to be figuring outhow WOOLF in the hell - CÉLINE the writer - is QUIN doing what - MOSLEY he or she - is CREELEY doing. This - is BARNES of course - quite O’BRIEN removed - BARTH from the - idea REED of being - ROUBAUD a passive reader, - YOUNG that youare in the backseat of the car and the writer is taking you on a tour.COOVER - WHITE - SORRENTINO - HUXLEY - DAITCH - MOTTE - MARKSONfor more information and details aboutfree shipping or additional free books, visit:www.dalkeyarchive.comDalkey Archive PressTranslation Review 13
FROM DEAN TO DEANTREPRENEUR: THE ACADEMICADMINISTRATOR AS TRANSLATORBy Abby R. Kratz and Dennis M. KratzThe academic title dean derives ultimately from theLatin word decanus, which refers to someone incharge of a group of ten. It was most commonly aRoman military term for the leader of a squad of ten soldiers.Caught in the crossfire of the changes sweepingthrough higher education, many current deans may findthe military origin of their title uncomfortably appropriate.It is all too tempting to apply metaphors of war to allacademic administrators, to think of them as the leadersof mercenary soldiers engaged in a noble crusade againstignorance or, less romantically, as under-equipped leadersof learned but unruly soldiers. Many colleges arestruggling to establish their niches or “beachheads,” arecompeting for increasingly scarce resources, and are discoveringthat they need to form strategic alliances to survive.Without question, the position of dean standsdirectly in multiple lines of fire.The challenges facing academic deans and thechanging nature of the position have spawned a significantcorpus of criticism and commentary, with suchinstructive and intriguing recent titles as The Dilemma ofthe Deanship, “The Academic Dean: An ImperiledSpecies Searching for Balance,” and The ChangingNature of the Academic Deanship. This essay addressesthe role of the dean in an environment of change. Wewill view that role through the lens of our experience asadministrators in a rapidly growing component of a largeuniversity system first in light of a conceptual framedeveloped by Rosabeth Moss Kanter with regard to corporatemanagement in what she calls our “post-entrepreneurial”age. Second, we will posit the emergence of anew model of the deanship, the deantrepreneur, and suggestthe implications of this model for the recruitmentand preparation of the next generation of academic leaders.Third, we will argue that these changes make translationuniquely relevant to the practice of administrationand, by extension, the education of administrators.At first glance, linking academic administration andtranslation may seem fanciful, if not perverse. After all,translators have expressed the belief that they suffer alack of respect in many academic settings. Nonetheless,recent developments in the nature of administration andin the theory of academic leadership, coupled with theemergence of translation as a model for understanding awide range of cross-cultural communication, suggest thatadministrators are in fact “translating” much of the time.Therefore, practical acquaintance with the process oftranslation could make them better communicators andmore effective leaders.As apt as battle metaphor may be for the life of thecontemporary dean, it is even more apt to apply to thisenterprise imagery drawn from play and game theory,especially as developed by Johan Huizinga and his successors.Game imagery has been applied productively tonumerous areas of endeavor. In her influential bookWhen Giants Learn to Dance, Kanter made use of thesame metaphor when she urged corporate executives tothink of themselves as engaged not in war but in aworldwide fiscal Olympics. To be sure, academic administratorsoften think of themselves as engaged in gamesof a particularly challenging variety, games more likecartoonist Bill Watterson’s “Calvinball,” with its endlessimprovised variation, addition, and subtraction of rules,than pastimes like baseball or basketball. In a comparisonthat works equally well for education, Kanter likensthe “game” of business to the croquet match in Alice inWonderland, in which everything, including Alice’s mallet(a flamingo), and the ball (a hedgehog with a mind ofits own), keeps changing and shifting. The game of highereducation in Texas, where we work, includes such newand elusive challenges as the pressures of externallyimposed accountability, fiscal constraints allied with anidiosyncratic formula funding system, shifting demographics,diversity initiatives that are often linked withretention goals, and, of course, the far-reaching thrusts oftechnological advancement.Indeed, Kanter’s research on new approaches tomanagement and the images she uses to relate her findingsseem particularly applicable to higher education.Contemporary education at all levels is often likened to abusiness. Many changes, for better and worse, in currentpractice have resulted from the application, not excludingthe misapplication, of business principles.The parallels between universities and businesses intoday’s environment of global economy, diversity, andrapid technological change are striking. Kanter’s analysisof the situation of business at the start of the last decadeas operating in a highly competitive global environment14 Translation Review
Page 2: TRANSLATION REVIEWNo. 66, 2003TABLE
Page 5 and 6: I could about the period. I tried t
Page 7 and 8: ings are for. But there are also so
Page 9 and 10: and we see how that is expressed in
Page 11 and 12: NOT GETTING IT RIGHTBy David Ferry[
Page 13 and 14: songs of the dead,” but it’s no
Page 15: oscilla ex alta suspendunt mollia p
Page 19 and 20: elations and fundraising in part to
Page 21 and 22: academic leadership in the post-ent
Page 24 and 25: his ideas.” Schweder’s closing
Page 26 and 27: cially in light of the considerable
Page 28 and 29: ary allusion, to slogans or key wor
Page 30 and 31: SAD TROPICS, OR TRISTES TROPIQUES?B
Page 32 and 33: In São Paulo, it was possible to b
Page 34 and 35: the first issue in autumn 1972. A y
Page 36 and 37: During the period 1989-1997 when Da
Page 38 and 39: da fuori non si vede niente, però
Page 40 and 41: only to then qualify, rebut, or exp
Page 42 and 43: ON THE CATHAY TOUR WITH ELIOT WEINB
Page 44 and 45: “Thaar’s where ole Marse Shao u
Page 46 and 47: Chinese lady’s I or my beginningM
Page 48 and 49: It is not a bad translation, but th
Page 50 and 51: Facing SnowEnough new ghosts to mou
Page 52 and 53: likely a tea the speaker had been d
Page 54 and 55: 1945 to face trial for treason for
Page 56 and 57: METHOD OR MAESTRI: TWO APPROACHES T
Page 58 and 59: agreement than dissent. The authors
Page 60 and 61: analogy between author and SL reade
Page 62 and 63: vide the reader with the finest lit
Page 64 and 65: languages, every language is potent
Page 66 and 67:
(10th c.) is remarkably similar to
Page 68 and 69:
eight distinct cases, whereas Engli
Page 70 and 71:
tadutpreksyotpreksya priyasakhi gat
Page 72 and 73:
THE MEXICAN POET HOMERO ARIDJISBy R
Page 74 and 75:
THE ART OF WARSUN-TZUEdited, Transl
Page 76 and 77:
Knocking about, kicked around and a
Page 78 and 79:
dence and bear close scrutiny wheth
Page 80 and 81:
Street of Lost FootstepsBy Lyonel T
show all

Translation Review - The University of Texas at Dallas

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?