Proposed call for papers for edited collection on adaptation/translation:

 

Adapting, Translating, Transforming

 

In recent years adaptation studies has tried to establish itself as a discipline in its own right, with the appearance of several works - both theoretical and empirical - such as Linda Hutcheon's "A Theory of Adaptation" (2005) and Thomas Leitch's "Adaptation Studies and Its Discontents" (2007). While adaptation studies considers itself interdisciplinary in focus, the bulk of its activity to date has been restricted to literature and/or film studies departments, focusing on questions of textual transfer - i.e. what is gained and what is lost by transforming a literary text into a film. There needs to be further research into what the act of adaptation involves and whether it differs from other acts of textual rewriting.

 

Meanwhile the ‘cultural turn’ in translation studies has prompted many scholars, following Jakobson, to consider adaptation as a form of inter-semiotic translation, and to produce a growing body of work on the ‘translation’ of literary forms into other media, including film. There seems to be a need to revisit both translation studies and adaptation studies, focusing in particular on possible differences between the two disciplines, as well as areas of crossover. This kind of research can open up new areas of interdisciplinary study in both subject areas - translation and adaptation studies.

 

With this in mind, we will publish a collection of essays from colleagues in both disciplines, focusing in particular on what the terms 'adaptation' and 'translation' actually mean; whether they are interchangeable or whether they are fundamentally different processes. We would welcome contributions that focus on the following issues:

 

• the role of the translator and whether it differs from that of an adapter
• the metaphorical meanings of both terms: translation as transformation or transfer, adaptation as psychological adjustment to a particular context.
• translation and adaptation as politically loaded terms
• the semiotic systems underlying translation and adaptation
• 'openness' versus 'restriction' - do translations differ from adaptations in the way they approach either the source or the target text?
• social constructions: the translator as mediator between two languages and two cultures; the adapter as mediator between media and cultures;
• the role of the imagination and/or the emotions in the act of translation or adaptation
• the role of the academy and/or recent scholarship in shaping attitudes towards both disciplines

We are interested in various types of contribution:

a) theoretical interventions that deal with both translation and adaptation in terms of recent scholarship in both disciplines;

b) personal accounts of how a text was either adapted or translated in specific contexts, focusing in particular on those forces - social, political, cultural - that shaped the act of transformation. This might take the form of a critical analysis of a particular adapter’s or translator’s work.

c) first hand accounts from professional ‘re-writers’ as to what the terms mean to them. They may either take the form of response-papers, or accounts of their own work.

 

What we are looking for is a diversity of material, emphasizing the ways in which both 'translation' and 'adaptation' at once parallel yet are fundamentally different from one another. There is no hard and fast word limits, but contributions over 4000 words would be particularly welcome. The book can only help to strengthen the status of both disciplines.

 

Contributions, in the form of short (150-250 word) proposals, should be sent to the joint editors, Laurence Raw ([log in to unmask]) and Joanne Collie ([log in to unmask]) by 31 December 2009.