Course overview
The PhD in Literary Translation Studies offers a choice between a research- and a practice-based pathway through your degree. The research pathway allows doctoral students to focus critically on a topic related to translation history, theory, methodology, practice or philosophy. The practice-based pathway involves the production of a substantial literary translation accompanied by a critical reflection.
Further information on the PhD in Literary Translation Studies is available on the Warwick Writing Programme website.
Teaching and learning
The structure of the PhD
Over 3 or 4 years (full time) or up to 7 years (part time), you will write a research or practice-based thesis:
A. Research pathway
Research theses will be 80,000 words in length and will typically investigate a topic related to the history, theory, practice, methodology and/or philosophy of translation.
B. Practice-based pathway
The practice-based pathway is distinct from the standard research pathway in that significant aspects of the claim for the doctoral requirement of an original contribution to the field of knowledge are demonstrated through the translation. Practice-based theses will consist of two parts, which should nonetheless form an organic whole:
i) a translation into English (this might be a translation of a novel; a novella; a collection of short stories; a collection of poetry; a work of literary non-fiction – the definition of literary non-fiction including but not restricted to memoir and travel writing; a work of scholarly writing, e.g. philosophy, critical theory, political thought).
ii) a critical reflection requiring the student to demonstrate awareness, informed by relevant scholarship in Translation Studies and any other pertinent scholarly fields, of the issues – stylistic, cultural, sociological, ideological and/or philosophical, among others – involved in the translation of the work. The thesis will be between 80,000 and 100,000 words, comprising the two related parts, translation and critical reflection. The ratio between the translation and reflection components will vary but the creative part will in all cases be the longer; the standard ratio of translation to critical reflection is 70:30. Variations on the 70:30 ratio may be negotiated – usually by translators of poetry or shorter fiction such as a novella or a short story collection. The translation should be undertaken during the period when the student is enrolled as a doctoral student at Warwick, i.e. a translation completed prior to the student’s enrolment in the PhD programme would not fulfil the requirements of the degree.
Teaching
Each student will have one or two supervisors, at least one of whom will be among the teaching staff of the Warwick Writing Programme. Co-supervision that involves a member of another unit in the School of Creative Arts, Performance and Visual Cultures, the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies, the School of Modern Languages and Cultures or another academic unit in the Faculty of Arts may be appropriate.
You will meet with your supervisors, together or separately, at least once a month during the teaching year (if full time) or twice a term (part time). These meetings should normally be in person but may sometimes be conducted remotely when convenient to both parties. You will also have a personal tutor, whose role is pastoral. There is no taught component of this degree, but each student is invited to a one-to-one meeting with our subject librarian to explore resources for his or her project.
