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The Problem of Speaking for Others: Translating Andrea Victrix and Ruth into English

28 Sep 2022

Book launch and reading by Professor P. Louise Johnson (University of Sheffield)

Book Launch and Reading 

Wednesday 28th September,  

4pm  

Lowercase Bookshop (UCC Campus) 

 

"The Problem of Speaking for Others": 

 Translating Andrea Victrix and Ruth into English 

 

Dr P. Louise Johnson, University of Sheffield, discusses her translations of Catalan writers Llorenç Villalonga and Guillem Viladot's work into English 

 

Llorenç Villalonga, Andrea VíctrixPart socio-political essay, part dystopian fiction, Andrea Víctrix presents a shockingly prescient vision of Palma, Mallorca in 2050. In comparing the anonymous narrator’s ‘traditional’ 1960s values with a future society that has done away with family and gender, Villalonga sets up an intriguing interplay between the narrator and the androgynous Andrea Víctrix, so-called Director of Pleasure, in a powerfully satirical, sometimes ironic exploration of contemporary issues such as gender and sexuality, consumerism, environmental disaster and the politics of big business. “Andrea Víctrix is certainly a unique reading experience, veering from grotesque and macabre to ludicrously funny in the space of a single paragraph… It seems unlikely that a single reading can hope to unearth all its treasures.” (Rachel Farmer) 

 

Guillem Viladot, RuthHow does one experience things from the viewpoint of the other sex? It is this question that has led to Viladot’s creation of Ruth, the genre-defining story of a sex change told by the protagonist through a series of letters to an anonymous friend. Far from the condemnatory gaze or noise of those who understand life as nothing but outward appearances, Ruth demonstrates the sentimental and intellectual intimacy of a man transitioning into a woman, and describes a profund, touching process in which frustrations, ideas of liberty and changes of identity are interwoven. Without descending into easy morbosity or exhibitions of sensationalist tendencies, Ruth represents Guillem Viladot’s indignation at both masculine and feminine sensibilities, while championing diversity of thought, love, liberty, and, most importantly, desire. “Guillem Viladot is a rebel: insatiable and untiring”. (Alex Susanna) 

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