To the Zoominar

Researchers of translation history are confronted with the specific challenge of analyzing what is considered “minor” literature. Second to an original, translations have long been perceived as less valuable versions, mere copies, of written works. In her ongoing research on 17th-century print and manuscript translations, Prof. Marie-France Guénette explores a twice-minored form of literature, if such an expression can be allowed. The corpus she is building comprises translated works —"copies" of original works into another language—, which circulated in handwritten script at a time when manuscripts were a minor form of dissemination with the industry of the printing press dominating the literary market and imposing trends. In this presentation, Prof. Guénette will explore some of the challenges and opportunities surrounding research in translation history. She will offer some strategies for analyzing print and manuscript translations, as well as the contexts they evolved in, their functions and the agents involved in their production.

Bio

Marie-France Guénette is an Assistant Professor of Translation Studies in the Department of Languages, Linguistics and Translation at Université Laval (Canada) and a member of the Canadian interuniversity research groups on digital humanities (CRIHN) and early modern studies (CIREM16/18). Her research interests lie at the intersections between transnational cultural exchanges, translation history, translators’ agency, and reception studies. Her current project on early modern studies, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, explores the functions of manuscript and print translations at the English court of King Charles I and Queen consort Henrietta Maria (1625–1649). In 2021, the volume Situatedness and Performativity: Translation and Interpreting Practice Revisited, which she edited jointly with Raquel Pacheco Aguilar, was published at Leuven University Press. She leads the research program on digital writing and editorialization with Marcello Vitali-Rosati (UMontreal), within the Quebec-based Digital Humanities research group (CRIHN). Since January 2022, she has collaborated with Angela Ferraro (Faculty of Philosophy, ULaval) to create a new research centre on interdisciplinary early modern studies at University Laval, in connection with the CIREM16/18.

Marie-France Guénette

About the Higher seminar in Translation Studies