Theme 2 – Translation, Transmission, Reception of Literary Texts

Programme 1 – Translation and study of texts translated into French

Translated literary texts and the history of translation are explored not from a translation studies perspective, but through a specifically literary approach: the goal is to return the focus to the translated text as playing a central role within a literary corpus and consider it independently from its source text, based on the intended audiences within its target culture, the effects it aims to achieve and its use of language, through a synchronic and diachronic approach.

• The HomERe project sets out to study numerous handwritten and printed Homeric translations from the late 15^th to the early 17^th century (Latin, French, Italian, Spanish) and develop a tool that provides a systematic comparative approach. The project aims to inverse the usual critical perspective and read these translations taking into consideration their intended audiences, the variety of strategies used by translators to satisfy them (especially by imitating Latin or vernacular poets) and their desire to help enrich the national heritage. In comparison to Homer’s text, the notion of deviation, rather than that of fidelity, will be considered to be fruitful.
• Poetics and stylistics of translated texts proposes approaching the translated text from a stylistic perspective combined with other disciplinary specialisations (in particular ancient studies, comparative literature, foreign language literature, translation studies). Several internal projects are based on the major methodological focuses of the programme: 1) Épreuves de l’étranger (The Experience of the Foreign - G. Macé corpus); 2) Poetry in Translation: Ethos and Style; 3) Homer’s Voice; (4) Translating Greek Drama; 5) Translating in Francophone Countries. Two cross-disciplinary projects bring together the different researchers involved: reflection on digital publishing and the contribution of NLP; leading translation-creation workshops (MaCI).

Programme 2 – Transmission and circulation

Here, the term “transmission” has a twofold meaning: first, the literary text transmits a specific world view, through the very act of (re)presenting it; second, the researcher and/or professor also ensures the transmission of this object, allowing the world view to circulate and spread. This twofold definition represents the central focus this programme that it seeks to expand on: transmitting and circulating these world views means creating a space in which different cultures, disciplines, aesthetics, ideologies and audiences can engage in dialogue.

• Observatory of Francophone Literature of the Global South aims to use a digital platform to provide public access to a series of Francophone works published in the Global South, which are difficult to access in France and the rest of the world. These texts offer a view of history (in particular colonial, postcolonial and decolonial), societies (as well as their relationships) and art (especially genre and semiological divisions) that is often little-known. The project explores methods for transmitting these literatures, among the general public as well as in schools and universities: its productions over the next five years will include creating several anthologies.
• Litédroit (continuing the project previously entitled “Teaching literature by exploring values”) approaches the literary text through the ethical reflection intrinsic to literature. The central consideration is the intertextual dialogue a literary work is likely to establish with the law, approached in historic, aesthetic and poetic terms, as well as in didactic terms (how to transmit these texts in class, what are the implications of their use?).
• Reporting, literature and politics studies the phenomena of cross-fertilisation and assimilation in developing writing practices found at the crossroads between literature and journalism, mainly known in French as “reportage” (reporting) and “journalisme narratif” (narrative journalism). We seek to galvanise, open up and bring together studies on reporting, which are still currently compartmentalised (in their cultural areas) or limited to studies transferred from the Anglo-American sphere. Observing and analysing these phenomena from a transnational perspective will result in an archaeology of contemporary reporting, attentive to its intrinsic political dimension. Reporting is marked by an ideal of a transitive and performative literature, focusing on capturing—and acting on—reality. Its strong resurgence today is crucial to understanding our present era.

Programme 3 – Reception: the study of paratexts and commentary

Reception is approached through a series of texts (paratexts) and practices (commentary), allowing us to study it in its historicity and analyse how it works. Paratexts, which vary in terms of typology (introductory or final texts, notes) and source (by the author, critic, scholar, publisher) inform the study of reception, in both its historic and aesthetic dimension. One of the most prominent practices for interpreting works is commentary—due to its historical importance and diverse range of practices—including in schools and universities, which systematise the practice and use it as a form of assessment.

• IThAC – The invention of ancient theatre in the corpus of 16th century scholarly paratexts. Analysis, translation, digital exploration (head: Malika Bastin-Hammou) studies the reception of ancient theatre in Europe by analysing the corpus of printed scholarly paratexts devoted to it at the time by 1) making this corpus translated into French available to the scientific community, 2) building a scalable digital exploration interface. We hypothesise that collecting, translating and analysing this corpus will allow us to understand how ancient theatre was received and understood by its “inventors” in Europe in the Early Modern Period, as well as how—at a time when modern theatre and philology were being invented—the ideas and methods included in this corpus circulated and developed through their widespread dissemination, made possible by print. See research projects.
• Littécom makes commentary—an iconic exercise in the teaching of literature—a touchstone for studying the literary education curriculum, from middle school to university. The project seeks to understand the organisation—over the course of students’ academic studies—of the set of canonical exercises assessed by school and university examinations and a wide range of other commentary activities in a broad sense. It aims to clarify how the various participants interpret this practice, exploring how teachers and students understand and organise this complex curricular configuration, and what links and progressive dimensions they see between the various activities proposed.
• Tacitus Online aims to digitally publish commentaries by the humanist Justus Lipsius on Tacitus’ Annals, a founding text of political thinking during the Renaissance. A 1608 Edition (Carolus Aubertus, Paris) gathers these commentaries and also presents a selection of previous commentary: based on this edition, the project seeks to digitise these commentaries and make them available in Latin to specialists, along with previous commentary, allowing for studies on Latin political language, 16^th century moral and historical thinking and how Tacitus was received in posterity. One of the aims is to understand how Tacitus became the source of political and moral reflection anchored in the contemporary world of critics and thinkers, in a dialogue between Antiquity, the Renaissance and modern times.

Research projects (in French)