The Beginning of a New Adventure

This is the first posting to what I hope will become a regularly updated blog. I would like to use this blog in order to share my thoughts on many different issues, both personal and professional, over the coming days, weeks, months and years. One of the main topics, one related to my own profession of literary translator and Translation Studies scholar, which I will be largely concerned with throughout the life of this blog, is the concept of translation, and in particular, the translation of literature across all language groups. And because St Jerome is the patron saint of translators and of translation, and himself translated the Bible into Latin in the fourth century AD, I thought I would use his name as an appropriate blog title.

I recently completed my doctoral studies on the subject of Literary Translation. The title of my PhD thesis is Around the World in Eighty Changes: a diachronic study of the multiple causality of seven complete translations and one adaptation (1873-2004), from French into English, of Jules Verne's novel Le Tour du Monde en 80 Jours (1873). I passed my viva in early September, 2009, and am now seeking jobs internationally, in the worlds of French and Translation Studies academia (research and lecturing), literary translation and teaching. My MA thesis looked at the translation of the Harry Potter novels into French. I did my Masters and PhD here in Dublin City University, and before that, I studied Languages and Marketing in Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland. And prior to that, I worked for over 17 years in local government, namely, in South Tipperary County Council, Clonmel. I took a Career Break from this job in 1998, at age 35, to go back to college. And because I ended up enjoying my studies, I eventually resigned from the local authority service. I have done some professional literary translation, some teaching and lecturing in French, Translation Theory and Comparative Literature in various Irish colleges, and am continuing to apply for jobs, so fingers crossed.

So that's the professional side of my life described briefly! I will begin to post discussion topics centred on ideas and information within the domains of Translation Theory, Literary Studies, French Studies, over the coming weeks and months, and hope that somebody out there in cyberspace may bump into my musings and maybe even respond. I would welcome your messages very much.

I will also be using this blog to merge the personal with the professional. So I will also post my thoughts on personal issues that have been relevant to my own life over the last 46 years, and hope to exchange thoughts with others on line.

For now, though, I need to finish up this first posting. This has been my first venture ever into the world of blogging, so I am gradually trying to get used to the process. I look forward to making my next posting very soon.

Best wishes for now,
Kieran O'Driscoll, Centre for Translation and Textual Studies, Dublin City University.