On Translation and Other Matters

Renowned fiction writer Lydia Davis, whose The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis was published in 2009 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, will be speaking as part of the University Seminar on Globalization and the Artist on October 19, 2012.Ms. Davis, a pioneer of the story form, combines poetry, philosophical musings, and keenly rendered social satire, with a breathtaking precision. She is by turns lyrical, meditative, funny, and deeply moving.Ms. Davis is also an accomplished translator. Her 2003 translation of Marcel Proust's Swann's Way was hailed as "clear and true to the music of the original" (Los Angeles Times) and "a work of creation in its own right" (Claire Messud, Newsday). Most recently, her 2010 translation of Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary has been hailed as "the obsessive translation it deserves" (Kathryn Harrison, The New York Times Book Review) and "closer than any previous translator to capturing Flaubert's style and content" (American Spectator).Attendance is free of charge and open to the public. Registration is required, in order to reserve a lunch.