CFP: MULTICULTURALISM, LITERATURE AND TRANSLATION IN EAST ASIA

Multiculturalism, Literature and Translation in East Asia

Tzu-yu Lin / University College London

Edited volume for book series: Routledge Studies in East Asian Translation

Editor: Tzu-yu Lin (University College London tzu-yu.lin@ucl.ac.uk)

This volume invites papers exploring a broad spectrum of theoretical, methodological and empirical questions about multilingualism, literary translation and meaning making in East Asia. As claimed by Martin Maiden, Chiara Cappellaro and Aditi Lahiri (2020: 69), “we are more multilingual than we think”. Katrin Kohl and Wen-chin Ouyang (2020) also assert that all human beings are in some way multilingual, and we should see multilingualism as the norm in social interactions. Defined in contrast to “monolingualism”, multilingualism usually refers to the acquisition and use of languages at a high level of fluency, though it is sometimes used flexibly with the term “plurilingual”, which puts less emphasis on the level of fluency attained (Kohl and Ouyang 2020: 4). If we define “languages” more broadly – to include registers, dialects, accents and ways of speaking – we find that multilingualism is normal in our daily lives, and switching between “languages” is an ability built into human’s DNA (ibid.:5). We should, therefore, respect multilingualism and promote language diversity in our societies. Yet, translators, as bi/multilingual authors and communicators, often give credence to the traditional monolingual premise and believe that “the meaning” of a source/original text can be carried across into a new target language. As Matthew Reynolds et al. (2020) argued, new meanings and new words will always be devised creatively during the process of translation, and therefore, considering translation as prism allows us to see the divergences and alternative standards of languages. For Ouyang (2020: 110-113), multiculturalism allows languages to interact with each other, and through the translation of “language-in-dialogue”, new worldviews, motifs, cultures, languages and literatures can thus travel around the world.

In East Asia, especially in the Chinese scriptworld, the relationship between written form and oral language differs from those in countries that use phonograms. The definition of multilingualism can be different from that in the European countries. This volume invites submissions that explore bi/multilingual models of literary translation in different linguistic strand settings in East Asia. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

• Multilingualism and world literature

• Multilingualism and postcolonial/diasporic literature

• Bi/multilingualism and translation

• Translation and world literature

• Multilingualism and the minority

• Translating dialects and/or non-standard languages

• Translatability and untranslatability

Submission of abstracts:

Please sent an abstract of 500 words along with a 50-word biographic note to editor Tzu-yu Lin (tzu-yu.lin@ucl.ac.uk) by 15 January 2022. Authors will be notified whether their abstracts have been accepted by 31 March 2022, and full manuscripts will be due by 31 October 2022. Articles should be between 6,000 and 8,000 words long, including notes and bibliography. The volume is expected to be published in August 2023. See below for full timeline.

Key dates:

Deadline for submission of abstracts: 15 January 2022

Notification of accepted abstracts: 31 March 2022

Deadline for submission of full papers: 31 October 2022

Notification of peer review outcomes: 28 February 2023

Revised manuscripts due: 30 April 2023

Publication: August 2023

For questions about the book series, you are welcome to contact the book series editors Jieun Kiaer (jieun.kiaer@orinst.ox.ac.uk) and Xiaofan Amy Li (xiaofan.amy.li@ucl.ac.uk).