University Professor Haun Saussy delivers his inaugural lecture entitled "Askance from Translation" on Friday, May 18, 2012 in Harper. Saussy examines interlinguistic exchange in the form of loanwords, puns, calques, creoles, misunderstandings, and transliterations that constitute the awkward double of traditional translation. Saussy stresses that translation is not the only channel for communicative exchange and an investigation of the role of translation's double is worthwhile in critical scholarship.
Saussy was appointed University Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and the College in July 2011. He specializes in classical Chinese poetry, the comparative study of oral traditions, and translation issues, among other subjects. His books include The Problem of a Chinese Aesthetic, Great Walls of Discourse, and new editions of modernist touchstones such as Saussure's Course in General Linguistics and the Fenollosa/Pound essay On the Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry.