"English Literature and Classical Translation (1850-1950)"

Conference, 16 June 2007, Corpus Christi College, Oxford

Call for Papers

Proposals are invited for this one-day interdisciplinary conference that 
aims to investigate the impact of translation from the classical languages 
on literature written in English in the period between the mid-nineteenth 
century and the end of high modernism (circa 1950). During these decades 
both the meaning and value of the classical tradition were radically 
reconfigured and this process of redefinition had a fundamental influence 
on modern literature. It was a time of rapid expansion in public interest 
in the ancient world, which is reflected in an unprecedented growth in the 
number of translations from the classical languages, especially from 
Greek. Classical literature gradually ceased to be the exclusive domain of 
a small educated elite and, perhaps inevitably, there was a decline in the 
cultural and social prestige attached to the knowledge of the ancient 
languages. The enlarged readership of classical texts reached further down 
in the social scale and comprised an increasingly large number of women. 
In this new socio-cultural landscape translations became the prime locus 
for the moderns’ encounter with the ancient world, and the main means by 
which classical culture was disseminated. From Matthew Arnold’s seminal On 
Translating Homer (1861), modern authors and critics repeatedly come back 
to arguing that a good practice of classical translation is a fundamental 
force in the intellectual life of the nation. What constitutes this good 
practice is of course a matter of dispute. 

The conference aims to bring together academics and students in the fields 
of English and Classics. It is an interdisciplinary forum that will also 
provide room for scholars interested in reception studies, translation 
studies, cultural history and history of the book.

Contributions might include, but are not limited to:

the ‘canon’ of classical literature in translation, 
classical translation and the modern literary canon, 
the role of translation in the reception of classical culture in the 
period, 
modern authors as classical translators, 
the influence of Latin and Greek translation on stylistic innovation and 
literary language, 
translation theory and the classics,
classical translation and aestheticism/decadence/modernist 
experimentation, 
classical translation and modern literary criticism, 
the circulation of classical texts in translation. 

The conference welcomes both diachronic approaches that examine issues 
arising from the translation of particular classical authors or texts in 
the period, and approaches that consider the significance of the theory 
and practice of classical translation for a modern author or group of 
authors.

The conference follows from a series of seminars on the same theme that 
are taking place in the School of Advanced Study of the University of 
London over the academic year 2006-2007. It will conclude with a 
roundtable discussion to which the speakers of the London seminars will be 
invited to contribute in the form of short presentations.

Please submit paper proposals in the form of 300-word abstracts to Stefano 
Evangelista ([log in to unmask]) by 1 May 2007.

Proposals from graduate students are particularly welcome. Some financial 
support for graduate speakers will be available.