Translation Multiples: From Global Culture to Post-Communist Democracy
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
- Venue
- SOAS, Main Building
- Room
- B202
- Event type
- Lecture
About this event
Dr Kasia Szymanska talks about her book, Translation Multiples: From Global Culture to Post-Communist Democracy.
In Translation Multiples, Kasia Szymanska examines what happens when translators, poets, and artists expose the act of translation by placing parallel translation variants next to one another in a standalone work of art, presenting each as a legitimate version of the original. Analysing such 'translation multiples' as a new genre of writing, Szymanska explores how an original text can diverge into variants, how such multiplicity can be displayed and embraced, and how the resulting work can still be read as a coherent text.
During the event, we will read some translation multiples together and discuss the ethical dimensions of prioritising one translation variant over another. Can the form of translation multiples bring more minoritised translation voices to the fore and remain open to non-standard variants, including those 'translated with an accent' (Bhasthi 2025)? What does this new genre reveal about existing hierarchies, local monopolies, and imperial legacies inscribed in single acts of translation?
Registration
Registration is required for this event.
About the speaker
Kasia Szymanska is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre of Translation and Intercultural Studies at the University of Manchester. She works across translation and comparative literature, and her research lies in literary translation, translation politics, and multilingual writing — especially with reference to the East European context. Her first book Translation Multiples: From Global Culture to Post-Communist Democracy was published in 2025 with Princeton University Press.
Image: Joshua Hoehne (Unsplash)
