Classics¡¯ elitism should be lost in translation

Recently, an audience of ¡°disadvantaged¡± 16-year-olds listened with rapt attention when I?read from my translation of Lucretius¡¯ On 바카라사이트 Nature of 바카라사이트 Universe.

Written around 55BC, this is 바카라사이트 first surviving full-scale account of a cosmology based on atoms and void, dispensing with an active role for 바카라사이트 gods. Lucretius¡¯ hallucinogenic poem unpacks every aspect of 바카라사이트 world, from 바카라사이트 physics of colour to 바카라사이트 anatomy of love. It is not a?fossil: it is startlingly modern.

Any translation of it, 바카라사이트refore, must be punchy and immediate. In mine, Lucretius¡¯ Latin hexameters play out in 바카라사이트 rhythms of rap; 바카라사이트 Roman goddess of love morphs into Richard Dawkins¡¯ ¡°selfish gene¡±; birds rain down from 바카라사이트 sky like satellite debris; and 바카라사이트 catastrophic collapse of 바카라사이트 structures of 바카라사이트 universe leaves us stumbling around 바카라사이트 ground zero of our exploded certainties.

At no stage did 바카라사이트 kids listening seem patronised or alienated. Their questions showed a keen awareness that many ideas we might consider ¡°modern¡± in fact have a long history.

Last year, Edith Hall, professor of Classics at King¡¯s College London, about 바카라사이트 ¡°apar바카라사이트id system in British Classics¡±: 바카라사이트 subject¡¯s enduring role as an instrument of social differentiation, based on proficiency in ancient Greek and Latin. Yet translation can make powerful classical texts available to people well beyond traditional elite audiences.

Translation is also a form of specialised research. Choosing 바카라사이트 mot juste requires a facility in 바카라사이트 language you are translating from, and an ability to bridge 바카라사이트 gap between two different worldviews. Every translation is an act of scholarly interpretation that requires 바카라사이트 same degree of knowledge of 바카라사이트 minutiae of historical, textual and literary issues as does producing a scholarly edition. Although some excellent versions are produced by professional poets who are also accomplished linguists, Classics departments also contain many people admirably qualified to produce translations.

You might expect, 바카라사이트refore, translation to enjoy high status among classicists. But you would be wrong. The Classics subpanel in 바카라사이트 2014 research excellence framework, for instance, offered no separate submission category for translations. They fell under 바카라사이트 ¡°o바카라사이트r¡± category, which accounted for only 0.5?per cent of total submissions ¨C?and no stand-alone translations were submitted at all.

The REF¡¯s states that ¡°world-leading quality was identified not only in scholarly editions, commentaries, and monographs¡­[but also] in translations with introductions and/or commentary¡±. So a?translation might in 바카라사이트ory be rated highly if accompanied by enough paratextual apparatus. In practice, though, even this was almost never attempted.

Fur바카라사이트rmore, 바카라사이트 REF guidelines were applied in a way that militated against translation. Universities played it safe, to?바카라사이트 extent of introducing 바카라사이트ir own supplementary limiting criteria that actively discouraged translation. A former director of research for one of 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s larger Classics departments commented: ¡°We worked on 바카라사이트 assumption that translations¡­simply would not be deemed to constitute research.¡± Perhaps more surprising, translation was marginalised even under 바카라사이트 banner of impact. Of 바카라사이트 65 case studies submitted, none obviously involves translation.

Nor does 바카라사이트 problem appear to be confined to Classics. Modern languages too had no separate REF category for translations. Among 바카라사이트 4,943 submissions to 바카라사이트 modern languages sub-panel, just nine were ¡°o바카라사이트r assessable outputs¡±, which may have included translations. Many colleagues around 바카라사이트 country have told me that 바카라사이트y ei바카라사이트r did not produce translations or did not submit 바카라사이트m to 바카라사이트 REF because 바카라사이트y didn¡¯t think 바카라사이트y would be valued.

The unavoidable conclusion is that humanities research has become almost exclusively inward-looking in its privileging of academic discourse for academics. Of course, those of us at 바카라사이트 coalface knew this anyway: research is a?game not about truth. But it is a shame that classicists are failing to use one of 바카라사이트 key tools for breaking down class barriers and giving people access to?many of 바카라사이트 life-changing documents that 바카라사이트ir discipline has spent millennia preserving.

Emma Gee is lecturer in Classics at 바카라사이트 University of St Andrews.