Henrik Ibsen’s rise as a world writer has been the object of several thorough studies during the last few decades, most notably within the framework of performance studies and theatre history. Yet, attempts at looking at how this has happened through the translated texts have been quite rare.
This seminar aims at partially filling this gap and invites contributions focused on Ibsen’s translations, both into European and non-European languages, from both its early reception and from later periods. The term “translation” is conceived in a relatively broad way and may include book translations, stage translations and adaptations of Ibsen’s plays – provided that the contributions focus on the textual side of these outputs and not only on their reception and/or performance.
We particularly welcome contributions on how ideological and aesthetic values are negotiated and changed in translation. Papers may, for instance, explore how issues related to gender, religion, the Nordic, social criticism, nature and intertextual quotes and references are dealt with by translators and other agents of translation.
The aim of the seminar is to bring together scholars with an interest in translation studies, in order to find common lines of reasoning and research on Ibsen’s translations, but also, more generally, on translation’s role as a tool to disseminate world literature. The intention of the organizers is to try to provide a picture of Ibsen in translation that is as comprehensive as possible, both geographically and temporally, and to publish the papers in an anthology or special issue of a journal.