Nabokov and Translation: A Transatlantic Symposium

Standing at the crossroads of five languages and a matching number of literary traditions (English, French, German, Italian and Russian), Vladimir Nabokov experienced translation on a level unattainable to the majority of his predecessors, presaging and influencing our modern understanding of the indispensability of linguistic and cultural interconnection.

Yet while the controversy stirred by his rendition of Aleksandr Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin and the methodology of “literalism” he applied therein forever changed the way we conceive of translation today, the totality of his work in translation remains the least appreciated and understood area of Nabokov’s creative enterprise.

To address this omission, Julie Loison-Charles of the University of Lille, France and Stanislav Shvabrin of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are jointly organizing a two-part transatlantic symposium (in Lille and Chapel Hill) dedicated to exploring Nabokov’s legacy as translator and translation theorist.

For more information, visit the event page.