CFP: Adaptation Conference

From:  "James Welsh" [email protected]


 *CALL FOR PAPERS*

* *

*Adaptation Unbounded: New Directions, New Agendas*

*International Interdisciplinary Conference***

31 October - 2 November 2013*, *Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iaşi,
Romania



The topic of this conference, suggested by Jim Welsh, Professor Emeritus,
Salisbury University, USA addresses researchers from disciplines such as
literary studies, film studies, translation studies, semiotics, and last
but not at all least from the recently created research field of adaptation
studies. The purpose is to explore the boundaries and the potentialities of
adaptation, more broadly defined, as well as the (occasionally fuzzy)
boundaries that distinguish this concept from other forms of translation
(in all its senses) and rewriting in an attempt to attribute
interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary dimensions to on-going research in
the field.

The first journal in the field of literature/film studies, *Literature/Film
Quarterly* (founded and edited by Jim Welsh), was initially interested in
adaptations of literary and dramatic texts to film and later television,
though more broadly defined notions of adaptation were not necessarily
dismissed. Subsequent journals in the literature/film area (*Adaptation* -
editors Deborah Cartmell and Imelda Whelehan, *The Journal of Adaptation in
Film and Performance* – edited by Richard Hand), recently published
empirical and theoretical books (Linda Hutcheon, *A Theory of
Adaptation*(2005), Thomas Leitch,
*Film Adaptation and Its Discontents* (2007), as well as books dealing with
a reconfiguration of the present day ‘territory’ of adaptation (Lawrence
Raw, James M. Welsh and Dennis Cutchins (eds.), *Redefining Adaptation
Studies*, 2010 or *The Pedagogy of Adaptation,
2010<http://baskent.academia.edu/LaurenceRaw/Books/370618/The_Pedagogy_of_Adaptation_2010_>
* by the same editors, etc.), already show how much adaptation studies,
which started from mere comparisons between a  literary work and its
adapted film have progressed in the last decades.

At the same time, both adaptation and translation have been frequently
defined and described in relation to each other. The history of
translations is also one of adaptations. Translation theory has struggled
against the judgments concerning the concept of fidelity that has dominated
the writings on adaptations of literary works. The task of the translator
and also that of the adapter have often been looked upon as similarly
difficult and unrewarding. In view of its several (frequently overlapping)
meanings, adaptation has been discussed from different perspectives not
only between distinct areas of study but also within the same discipline.
In translation studies, for instance, it has been related to topics such as
translation strategy, genre, metalanguage or faithfulness (cf. Bastin,
2008). Other scholars, following Jakobson, consider adaptation as a form of
inter-semiotic translation, and have started to produce a growing body of
work on the ‘translation’ of literary as well as non-literary forms into
other media, including film and the Internet.

In spite of promising results in carrying out research that foregrounds in
an increasingly nuanced manner differences and areas of crossover between
translation and adaptation studies (e.g. *Translation, Adaptation and
Transformation*, ed. Lawrence Raw, 2012) there still seems to be a need to
pursue further refining research along these lines. On the other hand, more
investigations need to be undertaken so as to approach the issue of
adaptation from a(n increasingly) transdisciplinary perspective.

We therefore welcome both general approaches as well as specific
case-studies relating to the general conference theme that will allow
participants to approach adaptation from as many (interrelated) angles of
investigation as possible, and throw more light on this very old, yet still
elusive concept.



*Conference sub-themes:*

* *

*  Trans/Interdisciplinary definitions of adaptation;

*  Adaptation as : translation, transfer, transformation, appropriation,
assimilation, intervention ;

*  Adaptation and translation as intertextual, intercultural, intermedial
and interlinguistic operations;

*  Adaptation- translation- theatrical/film performance;

*  Features that differentiate an 'intersemiotic translation' from an
original;

*  The roles of adapters and translators inforging literary and cultural
images;

*  The adampter's vs. translator's freedom;

*  The semiotic systems underlying translation and adaptation;

*  Translation and adaptation as politically loaded terms;

*  International news: translated and/or adapted?

*  Social constructions of adapters and translators

*  Text and film adaptations to (changed) socio-political contexts.

 The closing date for the submission of abstracts (300-350 words) is *15
March 2013*. Notification of acceptance will be given by *30 April 2013*.
Please send your abstracts to:  [email protected];
[email protected]; [email protected]



Selected papers will be published in specialized reviews and in the
Conference volume.



This call for papers together with constantly updated information about the
conference can be found at



http://adaptationconference.linguaculture.ro/home.html