Introduction to Translation
WRCT 266
Fall 2025
| Section:
01
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If the work of the literary translator has traditionally been praised -- when acknowledged at all -- for being invisible, consensus has shifted in recent years to the importance of recognizing translators as active participants in the creation of a text, and of understanding the distortions and power dynamics inherent in their work. This class (taught by Distinguished Writer in Residence Daniel Levin-Becker) will invite you to consider those slants as both liabilities and assets, and to experience the practice of translation as writing, as reading, as recreation and re-creation. We'll discuss the discipline's major theoretical debates but mostly get our hands dirty by working closely with comparisons, constraints, and experiments involving titles and subtitles and slogans, languages we don't speak, and the idiot-savant lackey that is AI. Students will prepare and workshop one major translation project, and write smaller responses to weekly stimuli. Guest speakers will chime in with perspectives on translation as a sociopolitical construct and as a day-to-day vocation. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA WRCT |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 90% or above |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
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Examinations and Assignments:
Response papers, translation project |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course will be taught by Distinguished Writer in Residence Daniel Levin Becker |
Instructor(s): STAFF
Times: ..T.R.. 10:20AM-11:50AM; Location: TBA |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 12 | | SR major: 0 | JR major: 0 | | |
| Seats Available: 9 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 3 | FR: 3 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 2 | 1st Ranked: 2 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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