What Holds Constant: Translational Topologies October 17, 2012

Dr Valerie Henitiuk

British Centre for Literary Translation

University of East Anglia

Abstract

This talk will tease out some ideas related to topology, a field of mathematical study concerned with the question of which properties of a given space or surface are preserved in the event that it undergoes significant manipulations. What is interesting about topological structures is that no matter how much they may be bent or stretched, they neither tear nor puncture.

Such structures thus allow formal definition of concepts such as continuity, connectedness, and convergence, even as they unsettle viewers and cause them to doubt their senses. The use of topological terms and images provides the opportunity to think carefully about important and eternally problematic notions in literary translation, such as equivalence, interpretation, and the effects of textual manipulation.

In other words, topology helps us think through just how far a surface-or a story, or a poem, or a motif-can be twisted and stretched and yet remain intact.

Enquiries to Myriam Salma-Carr – [email protected]

Free entry.

Official Website: http://www.salford.ac.uk/home-page/events/events/what-holds-constant-translational-topologies