Autieri, Arianna. 2024. Interdisciplinary Joyce: Prisms, Translations, and Experimentations. Joyce Studies in Italy, 26, pp. 65-82. ISSN 2281-373X [Article]

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Abstract or Description

In Prismatic Translation, Matthew Reynolds introduces the metaphor of translation as “prism”, which accounts for how translation is necessarily an interpretive process that leads to a multiplication of texts and meanings (2019). The metaphor of translation as prism stands in opposition to the metaphor of translation as “channel”, which accounts, instead, for how translation is traditionally seen as a transfer, an act which seeks “sameness” to the source text (ST) in translation. While the latter traditional understanding of translation remains dominant in traditional translation discourse, as Venuti laments in Contra Instrumentalism, a prismatic view of translation is central to new experimental and avant-garde translation studies which have recently been flourishing in the field.

A prismatic view of translation has also been intrinsically part of Joycean translation scholarship for a long time. Translations have been seen as multiple modes of reading Ulysses (e.g., Senn) and a means for expanding the novel itself (O’Neill). Joyce’s own modernist translation practice also shares key features of new experimental and avant-garde translation practices. In this context, Joycean studies can effectively be relied upon to complement and contribute to recent research in translation studies. Drawing on my forthcoming monograph’s arguments, this article aims to put recent developments in translation studies in dialogue with research in Joycean studies, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration between the two fields.

The article is divided into three parts; in the first part, I will reflect on the metaphors of translation as prism and translation as channel, reviewing recent developments in the translation studies field. In the second part, I will discuss how Joycean criticism of translation and Ulysses both resonates with and anticipates recent developments in translation studies. In the third part, I will discuss some examples from Joyce’s own translation practice, with particular attention to Joyce’s translations of Felix Beran’s “Des Weibes Klage” into English in 1918, and of James Stephens’s “Stephen’s Green” into five languages in 1932 (JJII 656).

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	experimental and avant-garde translation studies, interdisciplinarity, Joycean studies, modernism, prisms
Related URLs:	https://thejamesjoyceitalianfoundation.i... https://thejamesjoyceitalianfoundation.i...
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	English and Comparative Literature
Dates:	Date Event 2024 Accepted 2024 Published
Item ID:	39044
Date Deposited:	23 Jun 2025 10:53
Last Modified:	23 Jun 2025 10:53
Peer Reviewed:	Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/39044

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