Writing Forward: Translation, Performance, Creativity

This collection of essays by a team of internationally respected researchers at the cutting edge of translation studies was inspired by the idea of “writing forward” as a strategy for theatre translation proposed by David Johnston, the award-winning translator and scholar. Opening this volume is a conversation between David Johnston and Lawrence Venuti in which they explore a broad range of topics that bear on the translation of theatrical texts for performance. The chapters that follow are grouped into three main parts. Part I, “Extending translation”, contains essays whose respective theoretical emphases test, push, and stretch traditional conceptual boundaries. Part II, “Translating for theatre”, zooms in on various aspects of theatre translation. Part III, “Translation and creativity”, shifts the focus beyond the stage to other forms of artistic expression: poetry, painting, film, and television. Finally, in the short play Noli me tangere, written especially for this volume, Juan Mayorga reflects on theatre as the art of distance and on the mysteriousness of translation as the art of negotiating that distance. Thinking about and practicing translation as “writing forward” underscores its perpetual provisionality and hermeneutic openness; its ability to surprise and stimulate but also remind and reassure. By enriching our understanding of translation, performance, and creativity, this volume will no doubt inspire further explorations into their fascinating complexities. Useful and important reading for advanced students and researchers of literature, theatre, culture, and translation.