London, 12 February 2019

On 12 February 2019 we held two events in London. During the day we held an academic event at Birkbeck College:

Publishing Decadence in Translation

This event was dedicated to exploring different aspects of the literary marketplace in relation to translation. During the first session in the morning, three speakers addressed different aspects of Decadence and the Literary Marketplace at the Fin-de-Siècle:

  • Kirsten Macleod (University of Newcastle) ‘Decadence, Cultural Authority, and the Modernist American Literary Marketplace’
  • Tore Rem (University of Oslo) ‘Hedda Gabler in London: Page, stage, translation’
  • Sandra Mayer (University of Vienna) ‘Trading Oscar Wilde in the Fin-de-siècle literary Marketplace’

In the afternoon, we held a roundtable event bringing together scholars, translators and publishers to discuss the practicalities and pitfalls of publishing Decadent texts in translation for a contemporary market. The roundtable was moderated by Professor Jane Desmarais (Goldsmiths) and discussion was initiated by our guest speakers:

  • Michael Schmidt(Carcanet)
  • Martin Sorrell (University of Exeter)
  • Jennifer Higgins (Independent Translator)
  • Brendan King (Dedalus European Classics)

We continued our exploration of the audiences for Decadence in translation in the evening, with a second event:

The Arts of Decadence

This consisted of a series of readings and performances held in the sumptuous setting of the Chancellor’s Hall at Senate House: Decadence in Performance. The evening was convened by Graham Henderson, the head of our partners, the Rimbaud and Verlaine Foundation. Our musical performers from the National Opera Studio were:

  • Kate Howden (mezzo-soprano)
  • Edmund Danon (baritone)
  • Satoshi Kubo (piano)

Readings from the works of Paul Verlaine and Stéphane Mallarmé were given by:

  • Peter Manson
  • Martin Sorrell

And entertaining commentary on relationship between Decadence and musical adaption was delivered by:

  • Professor Helen Abbott (University of Birmingham)

This event was open to the public and over 120 tickets were issued.