This course completes the training cycle in translating literary texts from Greek into French. The texts are drawn from 20th- and 21st-century travel literature. Through their semantic, stylistic and pragmatic parameters, students practise carrying Modern Greek texts over into French writing conventions. The difficulty of the texts corresponds to level C1–C2.

For the weekly/ term assignments, if necessary, the limited use of Machine Translation and Artificial Intelligence is allowed to find specific terms or clarify any ambiguities, but not for translating the entire text. The use of MT and AI is strictly prohibited during exams.

By the end of the course, students will be able to handle the pragmatic issues of travel writing: place names, realia, cultural references and the transcription of proper names. They render description, reflection and testimony in French using the conventions of French travel writing. They preserve each author’s voice and way of seeing, and they justify their choices at the level of word, sentence and text.

• Week 1: Introduction: Travel literature in Modern Greek letters
• Week 2: Nikos Kazantzakis, Travelling: Spain (Ταξιδεύοντας: Ισπανία)
• Week 3: Critical comparison of the students’ translations 
• Week 4: Nikos Kazantzakis, Travelling: Japan – China (1938)
• Week 5: Critical comparison of the students’ translations 
• Week 6: Ilias Venezis, American Land (Αμερικανική γη, 1955)
• Week 7: Workshop I
• Week 8: Giorgos Seferis, Three Days in the Rock-Cut Monasteries of Cappadocia (Τρεις μέρες στα πετροκομμένα μοναστήρια της Καππαδοκίας)
• Week 9: Critical comparison of the students’ translations 
• Week 10: Giorgos Theotokas, Journey to the Middle East and Mount Athos (Ταξίδι στη Μέση Ανατολή και στο Άγιον Όρος)
• Week 11: Critical comparison of the students’ translations 
• Week 12: Litsa Damouli, Getting Drunk on a Mount Athos Wine (Μεθώντας μ' ένα κρασί αγιονορείτικο)
• Week 13: Workshop II – Review

• Berman, A. (1999). La traduction et la lettre ou l’auberge du lointain. Paris: Seuil.
• Ladmiral, J.-R. (1994). Traduire : théorèmes pour la traduction. Paris: Gallimard.
• Lejeune, P. (1975). Le pacte autobiographique. Paris: Seuil.
• Meschonnic, H. (1999). Poétique du traduire. Lagrasse: Verdier.
• Dimitroulia, T. & Kentrotis, G. (2015). Literary Translation: Theory and Practice [Λογοτεχνική μετάφραση: θεωρία και πράξη]. Athens: Kallipos.

The method is based on three steps: first, close reading and stylistic analysis of the original; then translation; then systematic line-by-line comparison of source and target. The quality criterion is stylistic fidelity and naturalness, meaning that the translation should read as an original. Where published French translations exist, they are examined comparatively only after the students’ own versions have been submitted. Students keep a portfolio: each translation is submitted, revised after class discussion, and resubmitted in its final form.

Use of ICT in teaching.

• Portfolio of translations with the revised versions from the semester and translation commentary (30%)
• Final written exam: translation of a travel-prose passage with commentary on the choices made (70%)