Born Translated: The Contemporary Novel in the Age of World Literature

“Born Translated” identifies and traces the emergence of a new genre of world literature—novels that do not simply appear in translation but have been written for translation from the start. Born-translated fiction includes well-known novels such as J.M. Coetzee’s Diary of a Bad Year and Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, as well as less-known works such as David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas and the digital narratives of Young-Hae Chang’s Heavy Industries. “Born Translated” asks what it might mean to read an original translation, or to read a work that has no original at all.

I am looking for a research assistant to help with acquiring books and articles, making research bibliographies, hunting down translated editions, and scanning illustrations and book covers. Some familiarity with the workings of scanners would be helpful. Apart from research support, I would benefit from the opportunity to talk about my work. The student would learn about advanced research in literary studies, especially about the opportunities and challenges of scholarship focused on contemporary writing in general and on what is often called “the global novel” in particular.