Memorial University’s Research Magazine Fall 2011 No. 3 ARTS EDITION MATTERS Twenty years in Ferryland • Bridging cultures with literary translation • Defining identity with language • Busting historical myths • Launching a 21st century atlas research Faculty of Arts Message from the Dean Welcome to the third edition of Research Matters: Arts Edition, the result of an ongoing partnership between the Faculty of Arts and the Office of the Vice-President (Research) at Memorial University. First launched in 2008 to showcase the diverse research undertaken in our faculty, this publication has proven to be an important vehicle in highlighting research in the social sciences and humanities here at Memorial. As an active researcher myself, Research Matters: Arts Edition is important to me. It’s an opportunity to showcase our faculty members and students. It’s also an opportunity for the general public to learn about the diversity, importance and impact of the work that our researchers regularly undertake in communities around the province and around the world. In this edition, we have chosen to focus on issues around identity— how Newfoundland English is alive and well in the 21st century, what role literary translation plays in bridging cultural divides, and the importance of understanding the truth behind powerful historical myths. You’ll also find key Faculty of Arts labs and archives, read about future research stars, and discover revealing secrets about selected faculty. And don’t miss our new book excerpt and the Q&A featuring the 20th anniversary of the Ferryland archaeological dig. After reading this publication, I guarantee you will have an entirely new perspective and understanding of Memorial University’s Faculty of Arts! Lisa Rankin Interim Dean of Arts Memorial University Inside 3 A CLOSE READER COMES CLEAN Jean Snook (German and Russian) 5 CAUGHT IN CONVERSATION Jean Briggs (anthropology) 7 S MARKS THE SPOT Gerard Van Herk (linguistics) 9 ISER FELLOWS Evelyn Osbourne, Janice Esther Tulk, Craig Palmer 11 DID YOU KNOW ... ? Lisa Rankin (archaeology), Vit Bubenik (linguistics), Jennifer Porter (religious studies), Don Nichol (English), Hans Rollmann (religious studies), Siphiwe Dube (women’s studies), Ailsa Craig (sociology), Valerie Burton (history) 12 MYTH BUSTER Sean Cadigan (history) 14 Q&A: 20 YEARS IN FERRYLAND Jim Tulk and Barry Gaulton (archaeology) 19 BOOK EXCERPT: BAKING AS BIOGRAPHY Diane Tye (folklore) 21 SPREADING THE WORD Dr. Sandra Clarke (English Language Research Centre/linguistics) 22 RESEARCHERS TO WATCH Susan Piercey (political science), Sara Johansson (linguistics), Ashley Laracy (sociology) Editor Janet Harron Assistant editor Lisa Riggs Graphic designer Helen Houston Cover photograph by Chris Hammond. Archaeologists Barry Gaulton and Jim Tulk are pictured at Ferryland on the Avalon Peninsula’s Southern Shore. 081-281-11-11-800 SPOTLIGHT QEII LIBRARY A CLOSE READER If it wasn’t for librarians like Diane Taylor- COMES CLEAN Harding, researcher Dr. Jean Snook might not have reached the lofty ranks of the world’s top literary translators. As one of the Queen Elizabeth II’s 12 information services librarians, Ms. Taylor-Harding’s prime role is to support study, teaching and research at Memorial. By day Jean Snook is an A librarian for more than 30 years, she loves interesting questions. accomplished professor of German in the Faculty of Arts. “I did my first online search in 1972,” she laughs, But in the rarefied world of literary indicating that libraries have always been on the translators, she’s a rock star. cutting edge when it comes to using computers to manage large amounts of data. And a good thing, too, since Ms. Taylor-Harding and her library colleagues The recent winner of the Helen make research material available to people around and Jurt Wolff Translation Prize, the province and the wider world. the top German-English She makes a distinction between the digital and translation award in the world, pre-digital world of research. and the inaugural Austrian Cultural Forum Translation Prize “When we were in a print world, you had to use what (both for her remarkable you had in your own library and so were limited. Today, there is so much stuff, you have to learn to stop, you translation of late Austrian writer must know when to say, ‘I have enough.’” Gert Jonke’s experimental novel The Distant Sound), Dr. Snook has been heralded for her ability to translate the untranslatable by Ms. Taylor-Harding calls the faculty/librarian relationship a symbiotic one and says that her position is one that renowned Swiss literary critic Roman Bucheli. allows her to constantly learn on the job. As Dr. Snook explains it, literary translation theory requires a “I have a science and engineering background myself, unique hybrid of language skills and literary sensibility. so when someone like Jean comes looking for biographical information on a German scholar, it’s always a new discovery,” she says, mentioning that “Translation theory has never made anyone a better translator,” Dr. Snook also advises her on the German language she says, adding that for several years she has resisted teaching a material in the reference collection. course on translation theory specifically for this reason. “You take Ms. Taylor-Harding says although librarians use a the text and do it— no one asks a football player to talk about the definite method (in locating materials) that others theory of football!” might find completely mysterious, she thinks most librarians feel like they have never completely Perhaps because, like writing itself, literary translation is an art— answered the questions put to them. (and a bit of a mystery). “No matter what your topic is, we can always find something that will help but ultimately, librarians “The German goes up into an abstract mental space and comes search and people find. Our job is never done!” down again in idiomatic English, which may be quite far removed from the original,” explains Dr. Snook. RESEARCH MATTERS ARTS EDITION | FALL 2011 | 3 “Ultimately, it’s what it sounds like in English,” she Originally from a Toronto neighbourhood populated by continues, explaining that translation is not word-to- a post-war wave of European immigrants, Dr. Snook word. “Each German word can have 20 to 30 discovered her affinity for translation while at university. meanings, so two adjacent words can have 90 “We had to translate medieval German into modern meanings and on it goes …” German— I finished the exercise in half of the time of my fellow students!” she laughs. She obviously loves her work, and sounds positively gleeful when detailing how she cracked the code of the Dr. Snook was hired on a freelance basis by the RCMP informal and formal “you” in German or how a to translate scientific documents while completing her dictionary enlightened her on the different spellings of PhD at the University of Waterloo. They wanted to hire “chutzpah” in Ashkenazi and Sephardic Yiddish. READER continued on page 4 READER continued from page 3 her full time, but she resisted the temptation other top German-English, English-German and finished her doctorate instead. translating professionals spent an entire morning on the first sentence of Jonke’s The Literary translation is not for the faint of heart. Distant Sound. She subsequently went on to When launching her career, Dr. Snook sent change that version anyway. letters to publishers all over the world, pitching her translation services. No one was For specialists such as Dr. Snook, meeting interested until a fellow translator at the with other translators can be a sort of Deutsches Literaturarchiv (a German literary paradise. She likes to spend time at the archive) suggested his own editor at the Europäishches Übersetzercollegium in University of Nebraska Press. They Straelen, Germany. subsequently published her translation of Else Lasker-Schuler’s novel Concert (“an “Translators come from all over the world to exceptionally elegant translation,” according attend (I’ve met the most brilliant Russians to The Women’s Review of Books) and Dr. and Bulgarians there) and we have the most Snook’s career took off. amazing conversations— it’s what I had longed for for years … people who could Among her recent accomplishments, a discuss books with me all night. I’ve never masterful English translation of Hans Eichner’s had better discussions or analysis about Kahn & Engelmann was published to glowing literature than from translators,” she says. reviews three days after the author’s death in “Plus they are always exchanging gossip 2009. The translation was listed in the Globe about publishers!” and Mail’s Top 100 List that year, in the Best Foreign Fiction Category. Long known as the closest readers, the work of literary translators is beginning to be However, it is Dr. Snook’s translations of recognized for the bridge between cultures Jonke’s work for Dalkey Archive Press that that it is. Some of the most widely renowned have garnered the most kudos. Known for writers in history remained unknown until a their experimental technique, Jonke’s novels translator such as Dr. Snook helped to explain have a reputation of being extremely difficult. their genius to a wider world. “Precision of language is where I’m coming Awards and professional recognition aside, from. It has to be exactly right and can’t be Dr. Snook’s greatest satisfaction lies in simpler ambiguous,” says Dr. Snook. “You have to hit accomplishments. it right on or you haven’t done it properly.” “When I can give a German speaker the word With that standard in mind, it helps for others they are looking for, I know I have arrived!” to have your back. At a 2008 international workshop in Switzerland, Dr. Snook and 11 RESEARCH MATTERS ARTS EDITION | FALL 2011 | 5 CAUGHT IN CONVERSATION Jean Briggs made her first acquaintance with Inuit cultures more than 45 years ago, when she decided to do fieldwork in the arctic for her PhD.