Translating Vocation

For students of literature-in-translation, the linguistic and cultural nuances that are lost may also be generative places for discovery and transformation. As translators, we emphasize the importance of cultural difference and literary study to broader audiences, expanding the ways we read literature, language and the concept of vocation itself. The challenge of finding a shared vocabulary to speak about vocation can be understood as a problem of translation. Recognizing the richness of difference allows for an expansive lens through which to see how the study of literature in translation and the theory of translation can prompt self-reflection and awareness. This chapter considers vocational discernment through the teaching of literature in translation—primarily Don Quixote and Latin American philosophy—and in doing so addresses the problematic notion of ‘world literature’ as well as the issues presented by variances in national/linguistic traditions. Approaching vocation through the lens of translation illumines the necessity of deep listening to the particularities of self and other. Both stress the importance of context, the need for cultural awareness, respect for the other, and intellectual humility.