Oberlin College Comparative Literature Department

Comparative Literature students: Check out the event below!

The Department of Jewish Studies at Oberlin College invites you to attend a discussion and reading by Adriana X. Jacobs, translator of THE TRUFFLE EYE (Zephyr Press, 2020) by Vietnamese-Israeli poet Vaan Nguyen.

Wednesday, January 12th @ 7PM EST / Online
Zoom Link: https://oberlin.zoom.us/my/stalpaz...

Email Prof. Sheera Talpaz ([email protected]) for a selection of translated poems

Oberlin alum and Comparative Literature major Liz Yearsley reviews Anke Stelling's novel "Higher Ground." Congratulations, Liz!

Take me to the Pity Party! Anke Stelling’s “Higher Ground,” Translated from German by Lucy Jones Anke Stelling’s Higher Ground, translated by Lucy Jones and published by Scribe in May 2021, takes place in a realm of housing-related troubles. As Berlin transforms around her, Resi, our narrator, sits in her broom closet and types away at her laptop. She’s a writer by profession, crafting in r...

Hannah Allen, a student of literary translation and a translation minor at Oberlin, reviews Meryem Alaoui's "Straight from the Horse's Mouth"! Hannah is an emerging translator herself. She has recently completed translating Un, a short novel by Salomé Assor, a Montreal-born Moroccan woman writer.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT: MERYEM ALAOUI’S “STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH,” TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH BY EMMA RAMADAN Alaoui’s novel, as hilarious as it is political, is a testament to the fact that literature does not have to be depressing or solemn to deliver a powerful message. Like Ramadan, I hope more publish…

Translator and scholar Sevinç Türkkan, who taught at Oberlin last year as Visiting Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature, offers a deft, comprehensive review of Zülfü Livaneli's Disquiet, translated from Turkish by Brendan Freely. Please check it out on Reading in Translation (link below)!

“There’s No Place Left on Earth That’s Peaceful”: Zülfü Livaneli’s “Disquiet,” translated from Turkish by Brendan Freely Livaneli is a household name in Turkey and an outstanding figure in the cultural and political life of his native country. A writer, poet, composer, producer, film director, and political activist, Livaneli was named a Goodwill Ambassador by UNESCO in 1996 for his contributions to world peace throug...

This upcoming National Book Foundation event may be of interest to you, comparatists and translation scholars! Have a look and RSVP if you plan to attend.

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NBF Presents: The Art of Translation
Thursday, May 20 | 5:00pm ET Online

2020 National Book Award–honored author and translator Fernanda Melchor and Sophie Hughes (Hurricane Season) come together for a conversation on the trust-fall act—and art—of literary translation, and the significance of a reader’s access to international perspectives. Moderated by Shuchi Saraswat, writer, editor, and founder of The Transnational Literature Series at Brookline Booksmith. Free and open to the public. Follow this link to RSVP: https://www.nationalbook.org/events/nbf-presents-art-of-translation/

Our own Liz Yearsley, currently the Education Curatorial Assistant at the Allen Memorial Art Museum, reviews Peter Stamm's “THE SWEET INDIFFERENCE OF THE WORLD,” translated from German by Michael Hofmann. Congrats, Liz!

“I’d like to believe you”: Peter Stamm’s “The Sweet Indifference of the World,” Translated from German by Michael Hofmann Both Stamm and Hoffmann have earned the right to be self-congratulatory — The Sweet Indifference is virtuosic.

On photography, frames, and postmemory in this review of Elena Ferrante's new book "The Lying Life of Adults." By our own professor Stiliana Milkova.

Ferrante Breaks the Frame A defaced family photograph—with an ancestor cut out—reveals to Ferrante’s new protagonist how women are erased by the words and deeds of men.

And more...Our own Associate Professor of Comparative Literature Stiliana Milkova, editor of "Reading in Translation," wrote about the relationship between self and space, topography and identity in Nadia Terranova's novel.

Mediterranean Crossings: Nadia Terranova’s “Farewell, Ghosts,” Translated from Italian by Ann Goldstein Nadia Terranova's novel "Farewell, Ghosts" explores place and space as manifestations of the paternal legacy.

Last year's director of Comparative Literature, Professor Kirk Ormand, contributed to a series of brilliant reviews by Oberlin alums and faculty.

In Love, at War, with Homer: Theodor Kallifatides’ “The Siege of Troy,” Translated from Swedish by Marlaine Delargy By Kirk Ormand Few works have been translated as often, or as with as many different poetic and political programs, as Homer’s Iliad. Kallifatides’ brief version, written originally in Swedish, is …

Another of our own alums and majors, Victoria Olson, reviews a Brazilian classic, Graciliano Ramos's "São Bernardo"!

Finding Power, Losing Love: Graciliano Ramos’ “São Bernardo,” translated from Portuguese by Padma Viswanathan Padma Viswanathan translates Graciliano Ramos’ rustic satire, "São Bernardo."

Our own professor of Hispanic Studies and Comparative Literature Claire Solomon published this extraordinary review discussing Carmen Boullosa, Anna Karenina, and the fortunes of ekphrasis.

Anna Karenina, Recomposed: Carmen Boullosa’s “The Book of Anna,” translated from Spanish by Samantha Schnee The latest novel by prolific Mexican writer Carmen Boullosa, The Book of Anna hinges on a paradoxical fantasy: rescuing Anna Karenina from Tolstoy.