Roman Ivashkiv

My main research goal is to complete a monographon transmesis (i.e., representation of translation both as process and product andthe portrayal of translator-characters) in Slavic film and fiction. It will examine instances of transmesis and phenomena of trans-/multilingualism in Slavic postmodernist prose not only in the light of untranslatability but also as a tool for theorizing translation. By extending Thomas Beebee’s argument that transmesis sheds new light both on the act of translation and on the figure of the translator,I aim to explore how transmesis, in addition to posing a challenge of (re)translating what already is a translation, can also play a strong theoretical role in at least three major ways: to dispel stereotypes about translation as a fallible act inevitably resulting in loss; to unravel the dichotomous structure of translation theory, which often restricts thinking about translation to binary paradigms (e.g. “domesticating vs foreignizing”); and to challenge the concepts of equivalence and faithfulness, which inadvertently continue to shape translation-studies discourse.