The history and theory of translation in the western tradition may well be read as an ongoing conversation about what constitutes the ‘foreign,’ what to do with it, how that is to be done, and why. Described in this way, translation theory is shown to be a political and non-universal discourse: its Eurocentric constitution thus emerges as a problem to be read otherwise. This premise will guide our attention in a survey of translation theory from the western tradition, organized through two substantive units. The first unit thinks through ‘foreignizing’ the translator’s language in light of the original or source text: a foundational gesture by Schleiermacher and nuanced by theorists after him such as Steiner, Berman, and Derrida, with whom we may ask where the ‘foreign’ even lies. The second unit then looks at key debates on the possibility of equivalence in translation, beginning with Benjamin’s seminal essay on translation as textual transmission, bound to the quasi-theological promises of “harmony” and “pure language.” The unit then considers further approaches to this correspondence drawn from fields like anthropology, linguistics, and literature, such as in the work of Jakobson, Nida, Even-Zohar, Toury, and Lefevere. Throughout the term, our theoretical readings will be concretized by considering the political and disciplinary stakes of translation as a practical phenomenon in the world, with an eye towards contemporary developments in comparative literature and literary studies. The course is designed to provide a foundation in the extant theory of translation studies as an academic field, while also complementing a future course on the politics—postcolonial, decolonial, neo-liberal—of translation.