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鈥攚hat translation exercises do you have your students practice?
MF: When I鈥檓 doing a translation, or even thinking about how to start one, I don鈥檛 find myself reaching for the support of theory. And that鈥檚 reflected in my teaching. However, I do think it鈥檚 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 Bennington, I鈥檝e brought translators to campus鈥攊ncluding Lydia Davis, Edith Grossman, Richard Howard鈥攖here 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.