Jeffrey Zuckerman's lecture

 I found Jeffrey Zuckerman's lecture incredibly moving. I believe his talk was an amazing example of how translation can become a deeply cathartic experience. He painted a picture of translations as a mirror where the translator sees themselves reflected in the author's words, and how this experience can be completely shocking at first. I had never truly reflected on the idea of translation as self-recognition, but it makes perfect sense. When we have the freedom to choose which text we are translating (which isn't always the case) is because we are drawn to that text for some reason that on occasion is not easy to explain, and, after Zuckerman's talk, I believe it's because whether consciously or unconsciously we recognize ourselves in the text.  As he exemplified by sharing with us his translation process of "Jellyfish have no ears," the translators who connect with an author in a personal way are the ones who produce the most emotionally accurate translations.

Zuckerman mentioned a lot of thought-provoking notions such as genetic criticism, vertical and horizontal identities, and heritage speakers as translators, among many others which I would like to talk more about in class. I also believe Zuckerman's talk sheds light on our ongoing discussion about whether translators are writers. At the beginning of the talk, he mentioned a series of questions: "Did I create this thing? Am I a creator or merely a conduit?"Even though he didn't give direct answers to the questions, he underscored throughout the whole talk that there is no such thing as "transparent translation." As he mentioned "Any translation we do reflects our biases, our knowledge, our background, our context"; in other words, translation is an interpretative and creative act, and though this has created a stigma around translation, is time we see this as a strength and not a weakness. 

–Lia

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