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Prof Jean Boase-Beier

Jean Boase-Beier
Job Title Contact Location
Professor of Literature & Translation 
Tel: 3360/3564   		Arts Building 2.20 
  • Personal
  • Research
  • Teaching
  • Publications
  • External
  • Admin

Biography

Professor Jean Boase-Beier studied English and Linguistics at the University of Regensburg, Germany, where she also lectured in Linguistics and German and led a research project funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinshaft (German Research Council) on Word Formation. She has taught Literary Translation, Linguistics, German and Stylistics at UEA since 1991 and set up UEA's MA in Literary Translation in 1993. An Executive Committee member of the British Comparative Literature Association (and organiser of the John Dryden Translation Competition) and former Executive Committee member of the Translators Association, she is also a translator between German and English and the editor of the Visible Poets series of bilingual poetry books (Arc Publications).

Career

 

 Jean Boase-Beier was promoted to Professor in the summer of 2008.

Key Research Interests

Present research: A Critical Introduction to Translation Studies, for Continuum. This is an examination of the theory-practice link, and how it can be approached from the point of view of cognitive literary theory. That is, how issues such as author, text, the literary, literary language, metaphor, literary understanding, reading are relevant to the way we do translation theory and to the question of the extent to which it is both a description of what translators do and also  informs the practice of translation. Also an article on theory and practice of translation for another book with Continuum, and the Foreword for that book. I also edited several books for Arc Publications, which appeared in 2009.

My research interests are  translation theory and practice, and the link between them; poetry and its translation; theories of poetics and stylistics. In particular I am interested in what constitutes knowledge and cognitive context, and how we read and write and translate texts, especially poetic texts. 
Supervision interests: literary translation (any genre); stylistics and poetics (with or without translation); post-Holocaust writing; cognitive literary theory, all areas of Literary Translation.


Past Research Projects and Grants

Project Title Start Date End Date Funding Body
The State of Stylistics 26/7/2006 29/7/2006 British Academy

Teaching Interests

Jean Boase-Beier teaches Literary Translation, especially Translation Theory (LITEM037: Translation Theory) and Translation and Style (LITEM033: Stylistics for Translators), at MA level. At undergraduate level she teaches writing and translation modules (LITE1F13: Reading Translations; LITE1F03 Reading Texts), and modules on literary style (LITE2X19: The Language of Literature; LITE3X36: Mind, Body and Literature). She is Convenor of the MA in Literary Translation, and has supervised a large number of PhD students on topics in translation and literature. Details of the Autumn 2008 MALT translation workshops can be found here.


Publications

  • Jean Boase-Beier, 2006, Stylistic Approaches to Translation, St. Jerome, (ISBN: 1900650983).
  • Jean Boase-Beier, 2006, 'Loosening the Grip of the Text: Theory as an Aid to Creativity', in M. Perteghella & E. Loffredo (ed), Translation and Creativity: Perspectives on Creative Writing and Translation Studies, Continuum. (ISBN: 0826487939). 47-56
  • Jean Boase-Beier Jan 2005, 'Translation, Transformation and Reception', Comparative Critical Studies (Special Issue), vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-142.
  • Jean Boase-Beier Jan 2005, 'Bringing Together Science and Poetry: Translating the Bystander in German Poetry After the Holocaust', Comparative Critical Studies, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 93-105.
  • J. Baose-Beier, A. Buchler and F Sampson, 2004, A Fine Line: New Poetry from Eastern and Central Europe, Arc, (ISBN: 1900072971).
  • Jean Boase-Beier Feb 2004, 'Translation and Style', Language and Literature (special edition), vol. 13, no. 1,
  • Jean Baose-Beier July 2004, 'Saying what Someone Else Meant: Style, Relevance and Translation', International Journal of Applied Linguistics, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 276-287.
  • Jean Boase-Beier February 2004, 'Knowing and Not Knowing: Style, Intention and the Translation of a Holocaust Poem', Language and Literature, vol. 13, no. 1,
  • Jean Boase-Beier September 2003, 'Mind Style Translated', Style, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 253-265.
  • Jean Boase-Beier, 2003, Between Nothing and Nothing (Visible Poets), Arc, (ISBN: 1900072386).
  • Jean Boase-Beier & Ken Lodge, 2003, The German Language, Blackwell, (ISBN: 0631231390).
  • Jean Boase-Beier Jan 2002, 'Style and Choice: Recreating Patterns in Translation',', Studies in Cross-Cultural Communication, vol. 1, pp. 1-28.
  • Jean Boase-Beier, 2002, 'Translating Style', in S. Csabi & J Zerkowitz (ed), Textual Secrets: The Message of the Medium, Eötvös Lorand University Press. (ISBN: 9634635997).

External Activities and Indicators of Esteem

  • Organiser of many conferences on Translation and Comparative Literature
  • Many invited papers, lectures and plenaries (including Warwick, Amsterdam, Prague, Krakow, Manchester, Alicante, Corfu)
  • 1998 Invited participant at Nobel Symposium 'Translation of Poetry and Poetic Prose'
  • 1998-2001 Member of Executive Committee of Translators Association (Society of Authors)
  • 2004 Speech (eulogy) at Austrian State Prize for Translation ceremony
  • Currently external examiner at Middlesex University for MA's and BA's; formerly at UCL and University of Essex
  • Member of Executive Committee, British Comparative Literature Association (BCLA); Organiser of BCLA's John Dryden Translation Competition
  • Overall organiser of biennial Postgraduate Translation Symposia, held at UEA
  • UEA Co-ordinator for Royal Literary Fund (RLF) Fellowships; member of Academic Panel of RLF

Professional Activities

  • 1998-2007 Committee Member, East Anglian Writers
  • Translator of English and German Poetry, including Ernst Meister's Between Nothing and Nothing and (with Anthony Vivis) Rose Ausländer's Mother Tongue
  • Regular reader/advisor for publishers, journals and organisations (including New Books in German, St Jerome Publishing, Comparative Critical Studies, Routledge, Longman)
  • Series editor of bilingual poetry books, Visible Poets, publised by Arc Publications

Key Responsibilities

Professor Boase-Beier is Head of School for the School of Literature and Creative Writing.

Administrative Posts/Responsibilities

  • 1993-2006 Member/Chair of Standing Committee of University Assembly
  • 1994-2001 & 2006 Member of Panel of the British Centre for Literary Translation
  • 1994-present Course Convenor, MA in Literary Translation
  • 1995-2002 & 2330-2004 Chair, Teaching Committee in School of Languages, Linguistics and Translation Studies
  • 1995-present Member of Senate
  • 1999-2007 Member of University Council
  • 1999-2004 Member of University Learning, Teaching and Quality Committee and Undergraduate Studies Executive
  • 1999-present Appraiser: Mentor for new colleagues
  • 2000-2001 Chair, German Sector in School of Language, Linguistics and Translation Studies
  • 2002-2004 Deputy Dean, School of Language, Linguistics and Translation Studies
  • 2005-2008 Teaching Director, School of Literature and Creative Writing
  • 2008-present Deputy Head of School of Literature and Creative Writing