Last week, the English Department was delighted to be involved in a series of activities organised under the aegis of FILIT 2024.
With congratulations to all those involved, here are some accounts of what happened.
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On Thursday, October 24th 2024, from 2 to 4 p.m., in lecture hall III.12, the Translation Studies students and those interested in translation attended a FILIT event, organized in partnership with the English Department. The event brought together Irish writer Naoise Dolan and the translator of two of her books, Mihaela Buruiană, an alumna of the translation studies BA programme of the English Department of Iași.
The conversation focused on the theme of language in Dolan's novel "Exciting Times": language and power, English in postcolonial contexts, appropriations of English, and how these complex issues are tackled in translation. The profusely engaging conversation was chaired by Dana Bădulescu.
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On Thursday, October 24th 2024, at 3 pm, in Ferdinand Hall, second and third year undergraduate students in the Translation Studies program, as well as other guests and teaching staff past and present had the privilege and honor of a highly stimulating and engaging talk with professor, author and translator Sean Cotter. The event, organized by the English Department, at the initiative of dr. Dana Badulescu, as head of department, as well as by PhD student Estera Federciuc, was moderated by Dr. Alexandra Vrinceanu, a fellow translator and academic. The talk was centered mostly on the famed “translator’s task”, using several excerpts from Cotter’s translated works or quotes of his as jumping off points.
The esteemed academic positively enthralled the audience with his experience, humor, blended with several anecdotes, all drawing from his translatorial approaches, expanding on challenges and motivation behind various choices as regards authors to translate or collaborations. The end saw a plethora of excited students bombarding him with questions, ranging from how he approaches the translation of poetry, to whether he dreams in Romanian or English when working on a specific source text. All in all, a formative experience for budding translators, afficionados and students alike and a promise of more such events to come!
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On Saturday, October 26th 2024, at 12.30, at Negru Zi Cafe, Sean Cotter's book Traducerea literară și destinul României în comunism (Humanitas, 2024), translated into Romanian by Dana Bădulescu, our English Department head, was presented and discussed with a very enthusiastic audience. A fellow translator, Sean Cotter talked with Dana Bădulescu about the role played by translation in the lives of three key figures in our culture - Lucian Blaga, Constantin Noica and Emil Cioran - and, more generally, in the history and destiny of Romania as a "minor" culture in Blaga's acceptation of the term.
The conversation highlighted the importance of this book in the Romanian cultural landscape, due to the topic and the time period approached, the author's insightful and careful research, as well as to Sean Cotter's unique vantage point as an American who speaks and translates Romanian.