Sylvia Molloy, a leading literary critic of Latin American literature and an acclaimed fiction author, will give a lecture titled "Encounters in Translation: Discourses of 'Discovery' in Latin America," at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28, in the Gamble Room on the third floor of Rush Rhees Library on the University of Rochester's River Campus.
Molloy is Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities at New York University. She has authored several books including the novels El común olvido (2002) and En breve cárcel, translated into English as Certificate of Absence (1981), as well as more then 80 scholarly articles on topics such as gender issues, Latin American women writers, cultural studies, theory and practice of autobiography in Spanish America, the work of Jorge Luis Borges, queer theory, and feminism.
In her lecture, Molloy will reflect on the difficulty of encounters involving different cultures and languages. She will look at the depiction of the translator as either a tragic or ridiculous figure and as the embodiment of the complexity and ambiguity of cultural encounters.
In addition to her academic accomplishments, Molloy has held professional leadership positions as the president of the Instituto Internacional de Literature Iberoamericana and president of the Modern Language Association. She is the recipient of various honors and awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for Independent Study and Research, and a Senior Faculty Fellowship from Yale University.
While on the Rochester campus, Molloy also will meet with students in the class "Latin American Women Writers," taught by Associate Professor of Spanish Beth E. Jörgensen. Her visit is presented by the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures and co-sponsored by the Office of College Advancement; the Departments of Anthropology, of English, and of History; the Office of the Dean of the College; and the Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender and Women's Studies. Molloy's lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact (585) 275-4251.