The architectures of translation : a magic carpet-ride through space and time (or, the awkward story of how we dis/placed Krisztina Tóth’s short fiction from Hungarian to English)

Hurley, UK; Naray-Davey, S

Abstract

This interdisciplinary paper unfolds an account of a collaborative translation project, which draws on Ellen Eve Frank’s concept of “literary architecture” to propose a process of “architectural translation”. Our proposal is illustrated by a detailed account of our experiences translating the short fiction of contemporary Hungarian writer, Krisztina Tóth (b. 1967) into English. Staged as a journey through space, time and text, our enquiry frames the process in Barbara Godard’s terms as one of dis/placement, finding resonances with Rosi Braidotti’s nomadic subject and practices of feminist mimesis. Situating Tóth’s fiction in a European feminist literary heritage, we deploy a range of concepts drawn from translation, architecture, literary criticism and feminist philosophy to synthesise a translation strategy which engages the spatial, not only as a metaphor but a methodology for our project. In this account, we propose an architectural methodology as a tool for radical translators, and offer the process of translation as a way of thinking about internal and external spaces in postcolonial contexts.

Citation

Hurley, U., & Naray-Davey, S. (2018). The architectures of translation : a magic carpet-ride through space and time (or, the awkward story of how we dis/placed Krisztina Tóth’s short fiction from Hungarian to English). Cogent Arts and Humanities, 5(1), 1426183. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2018.1426183

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 4, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Jan 24, 2018
• Publication Date: Jan 24, 2018
• Deposit Date: Feb 1, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 1, 2018
• Journal: Cogent Arts and Humanities
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 1426183
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2018.1426183
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2018.1426183
• Related Public URLs: https://www.cogentoa.com/journal/arts-and-humanities