6th Annual Convention &

Seminar

Topic : World Literature and Translation as Cultural Praxis

Venue : Will be announced shortly

Dates : Will be announced shortly

Translation as Cultural Praxis was the theme of the seminar that marked the last convention of the Goethe Society of India in November 2006. The focus of papers and discussions during the last convention was on the literary phenomenon that lies behind idea of World Literature. Turning our attention to the theme of World Literature in an increasingly interconnected context of literary reception would be not only a continuation of the dialogue on translation, it would also provide the space to go beyond the debate over the local versus the global / provincialism versus cosmopolitanism, and talk to each other about questions of method and praxis.

World literature is important as an idea: dislocation, transgression of boundaries and above all openness to transformation are existential modes implicit in this idea. It is time we went beyond attempts to appropriate the idea in the form of a definition so as to construct an exclusive, hierarchical structure with limited access to the high table and began to talk about the pedagogical potential of its inherent aspects. What can we learn from Goethe’s assertion that “poetry is the universal possession of mankind, revealing itself everywhere and at all times in hundreds and hundreds of men [and women]”, and that national literature is becoming a restrictive term?

Respondents are invited to address these concerns through interpretative discussions of literary/philosophical/historical/political texts and contexts, and through exposés on questions of ethics and aesthetics. This seminar would be an attempt to create a space where the dialogue on world literature, translation and their relevance becomes a reflection on possibilities of and openness to transformation.

Milind Brahme (Organising Secretary)

Tel: 044-22574508

e-mail: brahme@iitm.ac.in

23 January, 2008