Global Jewish Modernism: Translation Series Welcomes Michael Hofmann

Our second visiting translator for the translation series will be Michael Hofmann, who will give a reading with Q&A on March 24, 2022 at 4:00 p.m. Hofmann is an acclaimed critic, poet, and translator, whose essays regularly appear in the London Review of Books and Poetry Magazine. He has translated over 70 books from German into English, including works by Hans Fallada, Franz Kafka, Ernst Jünger, Heinrich von Kleist, Joseph Roth, and Wim Wenders.

The Global Jewish Modernism lab presents a series of lectures focused on translation. These events aim prompt conversations about the topics of translation and identity across campus, drawing on previous initiatives and also hopefully lead to new interactions.

We will consider how various aspects of translation-from the translator's background to choices about target language and distribution-shape the understanding of a work as Jewish. Other questions include the role of self-translation within Jewish Studies, the complexity of translating multilingual works, and the phenomenon of first edition translations (e.g., German exile writers who wrote in German but whose work first appeared in English or Spanish translation). We would also draw on the diverse linguistic knowledge of Duke's community to consider works that have not been translated into English, calling attention to the act of translation as a formative cultural and political act.