OCCT Discussion Group 2022-2023

In Hilary Term 2023, we will be meeting in-person in Seminar Room 7, St Anne’s College, from 12:45 to 14:00 UK time, with the exception of the online session in Week 6. We will provide a light buffet lunch with sandwiches, tea and coffee.

The following events are scheduled for Hilary Term 2023:

Monday Week 2 (23 Jan): Japanese literary translator Polly Barton discusses her recent experience translating the 1997 stream of consciousness novel Karui Memai [Mild Vertigo] by celebrated writer and critic Mieko Kanai.

Monday Week 4 (6 Feb): Olena Chervonik discusses the first Ukrainian publication of Roland Barthes’ Camera Lucida.

Monday Week 6 (20 Feb): Zhang Yueran discusses her award-winning novel Cocoon with Jeremy Tiang, whose English translation was published in 2022 by World Editions.

Monday Week 8 (6 Mar): Reuben Woolley and Panayiotis Xenophontos discuss the first English translation of Andrey Kurkov’s 2012 novel Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv, Ukrainian literature in wartime, and the world of literary translation.

In Michaelmas Term 2022, we will be meeting in-person in Seminar Room 10, St Anne’s College, from 12:45 to 14:00 UK time. We will provide a light buffet lunch with sandwiches, tea and coffee. 

For more details, please see our events page.

The Discussion Group is open to anyone who is interested in topics related to Comparative Criticism and Translation Studies. No knowledge of languages other than English or familiarity with comparative or translation research is required to participate.

If you are interested in facilitating one of the Discussion Group sessions, or suggesting a text or topic for discussion, please contact the convenors, Erin Nickalls (erin.nickalls@st-annes.ox.ac.uk) and Ola Sidorkiewicz (ola.sidorkiewicz@st-hughs.ox.ac.uk). Please note that the Discussion Group is a dynamic forum for exchanging and debating ideas in an informal setting. As such, the introduction by a facilitator is not a formal presentation, but, rather, a prompt for the collective discussion.

If you would like to join our mailing list, please send a blank email to occt-discussiongroup-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk.

We look forward to welcoming you,

OCCT DG Co-Convenors, Erin and Ola

Trinity Term 2022:

Hilary Term 2022: Special Guests

Michaelmas Term 2021: The Return of In-Person Events

Trinity Term 2021: Special Guests

Hilary Term 2021: Special Guests

Michaelmas Term 2020: Expanding our Focus

Trinity Term 2020: Live-Streamed Discussions and Poetry Readings

Hilary Term 2020: Comparative Research Projects

Michaelmas Term 2019: Special Guests

Trinity Term 2019: English Translations of 'Minor' Literatures

Hilary Term 2019: English Translations of 'Minor' Literatures

Michaelmas Term 2018: English Translations of 'Minor' Literatures

Trinity Term 2018: Comparative Reading Out of Context

Hilary Term 2018: Comparative Reading Out of Context

Michaelmas Term 2017: Comparative Reading Out of Context

Trinity Term 2017: Reading Out of Context

Hilary Term 2017: Aesthetic Judgement Out of Context

Michaelmas Term 2016: Key Issues in the Methodology of Comparative Study

Trinity Term 2016: Multilingualism

Hilary Term 2016: Intermediality

Michaelmas Term 2015: Ambiguity; Inter-Asian Comparisons - Material Culture, Body, and Image

Trinity Term 2015: Aesthetics Today; Inter-Asian Comparisons - Comparisons between East-Asian Cultures

Hilary Term 2015: Tactility, Poetics and Cinema; Film and Speaking Near the Image; Yvette Siegert on Translating Alejandra Pizarnik; Adam Thirlwell in Conversation

Michaelmas Term 2014: On Caroline Bergvall; Lyric Philosophy; Benjamin’s Denkbild; Sartre and Heidegger

Trinity Term 2014: Ekphrasis; Creative criticism; Criticism, creativity and translation - Ali Smith in Conversation

Hilary Term 2014: Delinking and the grammar of de-coloniality; William Ernest Hocking and comparative philosophy; The Classic, the Canon and the Past; What Is World Literature?

Michaelmas Term 2013: Travelling Concepts I; Travelling Concepts II; Travelling Concepts III; Travelling Concepts IV

Trinity Term 2013: On Translation IV - Babel; On Translation V - Don Paterson; Travel and Theory I; Travel and Theory II

Hilary Term 2013: On Translation I - Schleiermacher; On Translation II - Benjamin; On Translation III - Literary Translation and Versions of Ovid

Past conveners: Anna Saroldi, English: Mariachiara Leteo, English; Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, English; Karolina Watroba, Modern Languages; Valeria Taddei, Modern Languages; Kate Costello, Oriental Studies; Anita Paz, Ruskin School of Art; Amy Xiaofan Li, Oriental Studies; Kasia Szymanska, Modern Languages; Peter Hill, Oriental Studies; Rosie Lavan, English.