Speaker: Chris Song
Time: 6 pm CET, 21 and 28 March
Chris Song is an Assistant Professor in English and Chinese Translation at the University of Toronto. He teaches Hong Kong Literature and Hong Kong Cinema and Adaptation at the graduate level, as well as various translation-related courses at the undergraduate level. His research falls at the intersection of translation studies, modern literature in Chinese, and Hong Kong culture, with a focus on Chinese anthologies of American poetry. Song is appointed by the International Federation of Translators as the managing editor of Babel: Revue internationale de la traduction / International Journal of Translation(John Benjamins). His co-edited volume, The Bloomsbury Handbook of Modern Chinese Literature in Translation, has been published in 2024. Song is active in Hong Kong literary scene and has published many volumes of poetry and literary translation. He won the “Extraordinary Mention” of the 2013 Nosside International Poetry Prize in Italy and the Award for Young Artist (Literary Arts) of the 2017 Hong Kong Arts Development Awards. In 2019, he won the 5th Haizi Poetry Award. Song also edits Hong Kong’s unique bilingual Voice & Verse poetry magazine, curates the International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong with Bei Dao, and serves as advisor to various Hong Kong and international arts bodies.
Lecture 1. Cultural Untranslatability of Heteroglossia: Hong Kong Poetry in Colonial Time.
This talk delves into the complexities of heteroglossia, a phenomenon characterized by the coexistence of multiple languages within a single linguistic framework, particularly within the context of literature produced in multilingual environments. The focus is on the specific challenges of translating heteroglossic literature, a subject that remains scantily explored in academic discourse. By centering on heteroglossic poetry created by ethnically Chinese poets during colonial Hong Kong, the presentation underscores the unique interplay between language, culture, and colonial history. These poets, operating within the nexus of colonial power dynamics, infused their works in Sinitic languages (such as Chinese and Cantonese) with elements of the colonizer’s language (English), embodying the complex cultural and political realities of the time. Through a historical lens, the talk aims to unravel the intricate ways in which colonial and cultural contexts have shaped the evolution of Hong Kong’s heteroglossic poetry, highlighting the inherent untranslatability of such texts.
Lecture 2. The Transculturation of American Poetry in China during the New Culture Movement and beyond.
This presentation critically examines the Chinese introduction of American poetry during the pivotal years of 1917 to 1937, a period marked by profound cultural, social, and political upheavals in China. Leveraging Maria Tymoczko’s theory of transculturation, this analysis sheds light on the intricate processes by which America’s New Poetry Movement, Left poetry, and Black poetry were re-interpreted through (relay) translations and commentaries by Chinese writers and translators to resonate with local poetic forms and ideological narratives. Historically underexplored, these texts serve as a prism through which the dynamic interplay of literary and political forces within the receiving culture can be observed, contributing to the evolution of poetic expression and political discourse within China, as Chinese writers selectively assimilated and reconfigured American poetic innovations to align with indigenous aesthetic sensibilities and ideological commitments.