This Little Art

2017 | Biography

Part-essay and part-memoir, THIS LITTLE ART is a manifesto for the practice of literary translation. Taking her experience translating Roland Barthes' lectures at the College de France as her starting point, Kate Briggs offers a portrait of translation as a compelling, complex and formative activity. Building on Barthes' late work, Briggs explores the philosophical and aesthetic facets of translation alongside its practical implications. Dealing in turn with the controversial translations of Thomas Mann by Helen Lowe-Porter and Dorothy Bussy's translations of Andre Gide, Briggs argues for an understanding of the history of translation as a form of domestic, feminised labour. In what ways do notions of care and literary service imbue our understanding of translation? Both an ode to Barthes and to translation, THIS LITTLE ART offers a unique insight into the 'the lived-out, unabstracted practice' of translation.

Kate Briggs (Author)