This course is intended as an introduction to advanced study of literature, focussing on the concepts of style and genre. Students will develop their ability to recognize and describe the features of literary language, and to discuss how they produce the meaning and the effect of literary texts.
This study of literary language will be combined with practical exercises in translation. The reading of literary texts will be accompanied by readings and discussion on the problems of literary translation. By studying the complexities of linguistic expression in literary works, students will be prepared for the task of translating written texts.
The literary works studied are chosen from a range of genres, both popular and literary, and will cover a wide range of rhetorical and literary modes of writing. In examining these works, students will learn to analyse features such rhetoric, genre, diction, point of view, connotation and other features. The focus of the course will be on how the meaning and the effect of written texts is shaped by their style, and how generic conventions condition the readers’ expectations and responses.
The assignments for the course will consist in exercises in literary analysis, essays, and also in translation work. Students to draw on their knowledge of literature in order to develop the skills needed to carry out original translations. It is envisaged that these translations will be either from English into Hindi or Itaukei, or from Hindi or Itaukei into English. Students will be required also to submit a reflective essay on the difficulties experienced in the work along with their translation. This process will give students a new perspective on the language of literature, and will give them an introduction to the skill of translation.
The course will also consider the history of translation, the requirements of a translation as a professional activity, and its links with publication and the literary world.