Course Description: This seminar invites us to immerse ourselves in the fascinating world of translating poetry from the diverse Francophone regions. By participating in this course, we will gain practical tools to read and write about translation critically and creatively. We will explore the rich range of poetic voices from the Francophone world, engaging deeply with their cultural and political contexts and imaginative expressions. Through interactive discussions and hands-on exercises, we will develop a nuanced understanding of translation techniques and the intricacies of writing in a language that recenter one’s identity. This seminar is not just an academic exercise; it’s an opportunity to become part of a vibrant community of fellow language thinkers and writers. The seminar will help students develop ways to think about literary movements such as Modernism, Surrealism, Négritude, Absurdism, Créolité, and Antillanité.
In the course, we will move beyond the Hexagon (France) to engage with the diverse linguistic landscapes of the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, Quebec, and Haiti while thinking closely with the poetry of these regions. Students will grapple with translation vocabularies such as “habits”, “hospitality”, “centrality”, “untranslatable”, and “invisibility”—not as barriers, but as spaces of creative and critical tension. We will examine how iconic literary figures like Paulette Nardal, Jane Nardal, Suzanne Césaire, Léon Gontran-Damas, André Breton, Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Édouard Glissant, Samira Negrouche, Amina Saïd, Mohammed Khaï-Eddine, Marie-Célie Agnant, Nicole Brossard, Hélène Harbec, and Vénus Khoury-Ghata navigate the intersections of languages of Francophone poetry and homegrown poetic rhythms. The course is for advanced students to produce a substantial piece of writing and an original translation of a Francophone poetic work, accompanied by a critical introduction that defends their translational choices through a translation lens.