Translation & reception : 21st-Century French Fiction in the UK

London, 12 April 2013

Venue : The Institut Français, 17 Queensberry Place, London SW7 2DT

Organised by the Society for French Studies and the French Studies Library Group, with the collaboration of the Institut français.

Despite repeated announcements throughout the last century of the ‘death of the novel’, reading fiction continues to be a significant leisure activity, publishing fiction remains an important dimension of the cultural industries, and the novel still plays a crucial role in the cross-cultural circulation of structures of feeling, belief and value. In most European countries, this process of circulation is distinctly trans-national, since the book market includes a high proportion of translated texts. Conversely, the UK market and literary scene remain relatively closed to non-anglophone writing.

Building on the December 2011 workshop Constructing “21st-Century Literature in French” – Publication, translation, collection, held at and supported by the Institut Français, this study day aims to address the question of how contemporary French fiction is translated and received in the UK, and how perceived value and significance alter between a book’s original publication in France and the francophone world, and reception on the other side of the Channel. The event will bring together some of the most important agents in the mediation of French fiction: publishers, reviewers and critics, translators, editors, academics and librarians, and audience discussion will form an important element of the day.

Programme

[panels will consist of short papers and open discussion]

10.00: coffee and welcome

10.15 – 11.30: Patrick Kéchichian (écrivain, critique, ancien journaliste au Monde): La Place de la critique littéraire dans la presse française.
Claire Paulhan (éditrice): L’Edition indépendante en France.

11.30 – 12.45: Publishing translated fiction in the UK: selection, translation, reception.
Chaired by Hélène Fiamma (Head of the Book Dept., IF). With Kerry Glencorse (of literary agency Susanna Lea Associates); Peter Bush (translator and ex-director of the British Centre for Literary Translation, University of East Anglia); Ros Schwartz (freelance translator and Chair of English PEN’s Writers in Translation committee).

LUNCH 12.45 – 1.45

1.45 – 2.15: Libraries, collection and reception: Bibliothèque et culturethèque de l’Institut français. Stéphanie Lenne (responsable communication de la bibliothèque) et Melissa-Laure Mayer (chargée de mission Culturethèque).

2.15 – 3.45: Translation and reception: Fred Vargas.
David Platten (University of Leeds): Reading Minds – Fred Vargas and fiction
Siân Reynolds (translator) + Geoffrey Mulligan (editor, Harvill): Translating and publishing Fred Vargas in the UK.

3.45 – 4.00: Tea break
4.00 – 5.00: Marcella Frisani (CESSP-EHESS, Paris).Translating, publishing and supporting contemporary fiction from French in the UK book market : social conditions and obstacles.

Organisers:

Diana Holmes (University of Leeds); Teresa Vernon (British Library, FSLG) Charles Forsdick (University of Liverpool); Michael Syrotinski (University of Glasgow)

Registration

Please register as soon as possible, and before Friday March 22nd 2013, by completing the brief form at the end of this document, and sending a cheque to the following address. Please mark the envelope ‘Translation Event’.

Professor Charles Forsdick [C.Forsdick@liverpool.ac.uk]
SOCLAS: French, Cypress Building, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZR

Fee: £15 for the day, £10 for postgraduates and unwaged.

Registration/payment will also be possible on the day, but we must have a clear indication of attendance for catering purposes.

Cheque [payable to Society for French Studies] attached: £15 or £10 (PGs and unwaged)

Translation & Reception: 21st-century French Fiction in the UK

Friday April 12th 2013 at the Institut Français, 17, Queensberry Place, London.

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