Call for papers:
Translatio sententiae: Proverbs in Motion in the Pre-modern World
March 6-7, 2015; Barnard College, New York City
The Early Proverb Society, with support from the Center for Translation Studies at Barnard College, invites submissions for papers to be delivered at its first dedicated conference. Papers are welcome on any aspect of the proverb from any part of the world prior to 1800 C.E., but we are especially interested in studies related to the conference theme of translatio sententiae.
Although the proverb is often considered a static verbal icon, it functioned, nevertheless, as a flexible mode by which wisdom and knowledge moved around the pre-modern world. For instance, in the simplest sense of translation, versions of the “same” proverb appear in Latin and in one or more vernacular languages. Linguistic translation frequently included significant elements of cultural transference as well: for example, between the religious and secular spheres, between socio-political classes, and, of course, between different regional speech communities. Proverbs transferred knowledge across time, from one generation to the next. And, perhaps more than any other type of verbal artefact, pre-modern proverbs translated between the literate and non-literate worlds, being equally at home in both.
Please submit abstracts (250-word max.) on these or related paroemiological topics by October 1, 2014 to Dr. Laurie Postlewate. [log in to unmask]