Comparative Literature

“Between Tongues: The Art of Arabic-English Translation"

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 18:45:05 +0000

“Between Tongues: The Art of Arabic-English Translation" Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/23/2025 - 14:45 Axinn Center 232

“Between Tongues: The Art of Arabic-English Translation”

Between Tongues: The Art of Arabic–English Translation – a conversation with acclaimed translator maia tabet, whose career has helped shape the reception of modern Arabic literature in English. She has translated celebrated authors such as Elias Khoury and Sinan Antoon and her work reflects a lifelong engagement with language, politics, and literary form. In this talk, she reflects on the art and labor of translation—its challenges, its pleasures, and its power to mediate between cultures while resisting simplification. The event offers a rare opportunity to hear from one of the foremost voices in contemporary Arabic–English translation.

Patterson, Nicole (802) 443 - 5784 npatters@middlebury.edu Greenberg-Starr Department of Chinese Language and Literature; Middle East Studies and North Africa Studies; Comparative Literature

Restorative Criticism and Communal Writing in Times of NiUnaMenos

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 20:20:03 +0000

Restorative Criticism and Communal Writing in Times of NiUnaMenos Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/10/2025 - 15:20 Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room Open to the Public

Mexican women writers are driving an affective rearrangement of aesthetic practices, places of enunciation, and the “lettered city” — a shift that is shaking up ideas about the canon, the functioning of national literature, and the role of the intellectual in the 21st century. As Cristina Rivera Garza has pointed out, we are witnessing a transformation in literature where the book is no longer the endpoint, nor is there a singular figure of the author. Instead, a collective and mobile literature is emerging — one that operates particularly through its affective power to circulate ideas with political and ethical potential. It is within this context that I propose to focus on what I call “restorative criticism”: the process of overwriting the canon in works that register traces of canonical erasure. I also examine communal writing as a means of breaking bonds with the Mexican canon in the second half of the 21st century, interrogating women’s writing as a deliberate act of dissidence, coinciding with the rise of feminist movements in Mexico. Some authors discussed in this talk will include Ave Barrera’s Restauración, Didi Gutiérrez’s Las elegantes, the work of Cristina Rivera Garza, among others.

Presented by Francesca Dennstedt, Assistant Professor of Latinx at the University of Kentucky.

Co-sponsored by the Academic Speaker Supplement Fund and the Axinn Center for the Humanities.

Kervick, Elizabeth 443-5565 ekervick@middlebury.edu Writing and Rhetoric Program; Latin American Studies; Comparative Literature; Gender, Sexuality, & Fem Studies; Luso-Hispanic Studies

ARBC, CHNS, CMLT, GRMN, JAPN, LHST, RUSS - Commencement 2024 Reception

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Mar 2024 16:01:06 +0000

ARBC, CHNS, CMLT, GRMN, JAPN, LHST, RUSS - Commencement 2024 Reception Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 03/24/2024 - 12:01 Mahaney Arts Center Lower Lobby

Commencement reception for seniors and their families for the departments of Arabic, Chinese, Comparative Literature, German, Japanese Studies, Luso-Hispanic Studies, and Russian.

Watters, Maria 443-5704 mwatters@middlebury.edu Greenberg-Starr Department of Chinese Language and Literature; German; Japanese; Russian; Comparative Literature; Luso-Hispanic Studies

ARBC, CHNS, CMLT, ITAL, JAPN, LHST, RUSS - Commencement 2023 Reception

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 13:40:02 +0000

ARBC, CHNS, CMLT, ITAL, JAPN, LHST, RUSS - Commencement 2023 Reception Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/29/2023 - 09:40 Mahaney Arts Center Lower Lobby

Commencement reception for seniors and their families for the departments of Arabic, Chinese, Comparative Literature, Italian, Japanese Studies, Luso-Hispanic Studies, and Russian.

ZZ Erwin (Scheduler), Jennifer (802) 443-5772 jerwin@middlebury.edu Greenberg-Starr Department of Chinese Language and Literature; Italian; Japanese; Russian; Comparative Literature; Luso-Hispanic Studies

“Tres veces apátrida”: Redefining World Literature through the Work of Contemporary Asian/Latin American Writers

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Sep 2022 17:55:01 +0000

“Tres veces apátrida”: Redefining World Literature through the Work of Contemporary Asian/Latin American Writers Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/08/2022 - 13:55 Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room Open to the Public

Paula Park, Associate Professor of Spanish at Wesleyan University

The history of migration from Asia to the Americas is long and profound. Yet the production and reception of literature by Asian migrants in Latin America is a fairly recent phenomenon. This, in part, is due to the difficulty of situating their work in neatly bound national categories. This lecture will offer an overview of twentieth- and twenty-first-century East Asian-Latin American writers, among them Siu Kam Wen, Julia Wong, Kyoung Park, and Moisés Park, who reflect on their condition as perpetual outsiders in the Americas and beyond. Engaging with the concepts of “serial migration” (Lok Siu) and “rhizomatic diaspora” (Kyeyoung Park), which refer, respectively, to the extended transnational crossings of Chinese and Korean migrants in the Americas, the work of these writers will be presented as postnational literature as well as one that invites us to rethink our approach to world literature.

Poppe, Nicolas 802-443-5343 npoppe@middlebury.edu Museum of Art; East Asian Studies; Latin American Studies; Comparative Literature; Luso-Hispanic Studies

Translation Theory and Practice: Instrumental vs. Hermeneutic Models: Lawrence Venuti

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 23:17:12 +0000

Translation Theory and Practice: Instrumental vs. Hermeneutic Models: Lawrence Venuti Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/04/2022 - 19:17 Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103 Open to the Public Wilkinson, Claire (802) 443-5354 cwilkinson@middlebury.edu Comparative Literature

Daughter of the Bedouin’s Chief : Writing Female Identity in the Land of Prohibitions

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 23:17:12 +0000

Daughter of the Bedouin’s Chief : Writing Female Identity in the Land of Prohibitions Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/04/2022 - 19:17 Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room Open to the Public

Dr. Miral Mahgoub, an Egyptian novelist and Associate Professor of Modern Arabic Literature and Middle East/Islamic Studies at the School of International Letters and Cultures at Arizona State University, will speak about her novel, The Tent (1996), a dream-like portrayal of rural Bedouin life in Egypt. Dr. Mahgoub was awarded the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature in 2010 for her novel Brooklyn Heights and was recently profiled by the New York Times: “Making the Life of a Modern Nomad into Literature” (1/4/2012).

Liebhaber, Samuel 802.443.5598 slieb@middlebury.edu Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs; Arabic; Middle East Studies and North Africa Studies; Comparative Literature

Displaying Sexual Violence: Activism in Israeli Women's Filmmaking

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 22:54:59 +0000

Displaying Sexual Violence: Activism in Israeli Women's Filmmaking Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/04/2022 - 18:54 Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room Open to the Public

Lecture “Displaying Sexual Violence: Activism in Israeli Women’s Filmmaking” by Rachel S. Harris, Associate Professor of Israeli Literature and Culture, The University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign

Sponsored by Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs, Hebrew Program, Jewish Studies Program, Comparative Literature Program

Tate, Charlotte (802) 443-5795 tate@middlebury.edu Hebrew; Comparative Literature; Jewish Studies

ARBC, CHNS, CMLT, GRMN, ITAL, JAPN, LHST, RUSS - Commencement 2022 Reception

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 18:05:02 +0000

ARBC, CHNS, CMLT, GRMN, ITAL, JAPN, LHST, RUSS - Commencement 2022 Reception Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/29/2022 - 14:05 Mahaney Arts Center Lower Lobby

Commencement reception for seniors and their families for the departments of Arabic, Chinese, Comparative Literature, German, Italian, Japanese Studies, Luso-Hispanic Studies, and Russian.

ZZ Erwin (Scheduler), Jennifer (802) 443-5772 jerwin@middlebury.edu Greenberg-Starr Department of Chinese Language and Literature; German; Italian; Japanese; Russian; Comparative Literature; Luso-Hispanic Studies

CANCELLED: Jerusalem and Literature: Arabic Comedy, Culture of Jerusalem

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 22:54:48 +0000

CANCELLED: Jerusalem and Literature: Arabic Comedy, Culture of Jerusalem Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/02/2020 - 17:54 Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room

Mahmoud Muna is a bookstore owner, comedian, and cultural icon of East Jerusalem. He is a regular contributor to the current affairs media and writes for several local publications. The Jerusalem-based Muna family owns and operates the Educational Bookstore on Salah Eddin Street. Several decades ago, it was noted critic Edward Said’s family who originally owned the bookstore.

Luksch, Victoria (802) 443-3112 vluksch@middlebury.edu Comparative Literature