Translating the Flesh, Politicizing the Female Body

This class will examine the politicizing effects of translation on the literature of identity, and more specifically on the litericized female body. We will move through two feminist translation movements in Canada and China respectively to investigate the ways translating two representative feminist works: The Second Sex (TSS, Beauvoir 1949/1952) and The Vagina Monologues (TVM, Ensler 1998) in different socio-political contexts challenge stereotyped cultural taboos and construct gender identities. Other than the French and American texts, which are central focuses of the two feminist translation movements, we will also look at ancient and modern texts pertinent to translation’s politicization of the female body as our major critical concern. We will read lyric poetry, literary hoaxes, metafictions in translation, and experimental translations.

Satisfies General Education Requirements:

• Group-Satisfying: Arts and Letters
• Multicultural Courses: International Cultures (IC)