Teaching Translation
Bruna Dantas Lobato '15 interviewed faculty member Marguerite Feitlowitz for Exchanges Literary Journal as part of a series on translators who also teach.
From the interview:
BDL: What role does translation theory play in your classroom? How about the practice of translation—what translation exercises do you have your students practice?
MF: When I’m doing a translation, or even thinking about how to start one, I don’t find myself reaching for the support of theory. And that’s reflected in my teaching. However, I do think it’s important for us all to have a good sense of how translation has been thought about and practiced through history, and from place to place. I rely much more on interviews with translators, and essays on their individual practice. Ever since I began teaching translation at ¿ÐýÃŹÙÍø, I’ve brought translators to campus—including Lydia Davis, Edith Grossman, Richard Howard—there is just no substitute for this direct contact and conversation. We study their work, they visit class and give a public presentation with time for Q & A.