Languages, Cultures and Visual Studies

Photo of Dr Richard Mansell

Dr Richard Mansell

Senior Lecturer in Translation (Hispanic Studies)

R.M.Mansell@exeter.ac.uk

3199

01392 723199

Overview

I teach translation, Spanish language and Catalan culture across the undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum, and research in the field of translation studies, with a special interest in the translated literature industry and the presence of translation in the urban environment. I regularly collaborate with stakeholders in the industry, as an advisor for New Spanish Books, a reader for the Ramon Llull Prize for Literary Translation and the John Dryden Translation Prize, contributing to events such as the Literary Translation Centre at London Book Fair, and I was a judge for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2015.

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Research

Translation and space

I am currently working on two projects exploring how translation is present in the urban environment, how this affects people, societies and culture. This exciting research is funded by the British Academy / Leverhulme Trust (focusing on Majorca as a case study) and the AHRC Impact Accelerator Account (working directly with project partners Exeter and Barcelona UNESCO Cities of Literature and a writer in residence).   

Translated literature in the UK

I focus on translated literature market in the UK, analysing how publishers choose which texts to translate, what makes a literary translation successful, and the resilience of the market, and have interviewed a wide range of stakeholders from across the industry: translators, publishers, funding organisations, agents, booksellers and the media.

Translator strategies and translation history

Another area of my research is investigating translator strategies and translation history. I approach translator strategies from the point of view of interdependencies of features at a micro-level and how translators negotiate the representation of a source text and the demands of the target system, and reference to translation history is used to situate these strategies in their historical and cultural contexts and infer the contextual influence on the translation process.

Translations

I am also a translator between Spanish, Catalan and English. In the field of literary translations I have translated short stories by Terenci Moix and Imma Monsó amongst others, and poems by Miquel Costa i Llobera and Blai Bonet into English. I also translated Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing for the stage to critical acclaim, collaborating with Balearic production companies.

In other fields, I have translated for the regional administrations in Spain, Catalan and British publishers, and various artistic and cultural organisations. I also translate academic work from Spanish and Catalan into English to facilitate its publication in international English-language journals. In part because of this professional activity, I am a firm believer in the link between practice and research in translation.

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Supervision

I regularly supervise doctoral students, and am always keen to hear from applicants with innovative proposals in translation studies, especially relating to the translated literature market, translation and publishing, translation in the built environment, and translation in Spanish and Catalan contexts. There is a lot of information on PhD study (and the application process) at Exeter here.  

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Publications

Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.

| 2021 | 2020 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2004 |

2021

  • Mansell R. (2021) Small yet powerful: The rise of small independent presses and translated fiction in the UK, Translating Asymmetry - Rewriting Power, John Benjamins, 269-290.

2020

  • Mansell RM. (2020) Strategies for Success?: Evaluating the Rise of Catalan Literature, Translating the Literatures of Small European Nations, Liverpool University Press, 126-144.

2018

  • Mansell RM. (2018) Translators of Catalan as activists during the Franco dictatorship, The Palgrave Handbook of Literary Translation, Palgrave Macmillan, 517-533.

2017

2016

  • Mansell RM. (2016) Books in translation: Hits, and a whole lot more. [PDF]
  • Mansell RM. (2016) Why excitement about the pope’s ‘gossip bomb’ slang is more of a damp squib. [PDF]
  • Mansell R. (2016) Re-Translating Murder: How Spain Saw Auden’s ‘Spain’, Forum for Modern Language Studies, volume 52, no. 3, pages 330-345, DOI:10.1093/fmls/cqw026. [PDF]

2015

2010

  • Mansell R. (2010) Shakespeare in Catalan: Translating Imperialism, MOD LANG REV, volume 105, pages 1171-1172.
  • Mansell RM. (2010) Totes òptimes, cap de perfecta: les traduccions catalanes de “The Raven”, XIV Col·loqui Internacional de Llengua i Literatura Catalanes, Budapest, 4th - 9th Sep 2006, Actes del XIV Col·loqui Internacional de Llengua i Literatura Catalanes, volume 3, pages 201-208.

2009

  • Mansell RM, Dols N. (2009) Resolving Meaning Conflict in Translation: An Optimality Approach to Verse Translation, Linguistica Antverpiensia New Series, no. 7/2008, pages 45-74.

2008

  • Mansell RM. (2008) Optimality in Translation, Translation Research Projects 1, Intercultural Studies Group, 3-12.

2007

  • Mansell RM. (2007) The Tale of Two Translations: Or, The Role of Space in Translation, Journal of Catalan Studies: Revista Internacional de Catalanistica, volume 2006, pages 48-64.
  • Mansell RM. (2007) Transfer: Journal of Contemporary Culture,, Journal of Catalan Studies, no. 2006, pages 136-138. [PDF]

2004

  • Mansell RM. (2004) Apunts de traductologia al voltant de "Processó"/"Procession" de Miquel Costa i Llobera, Comunicacío: Revista del Centre d'Estudis Teologics de Mallorca, volume 108, pages 67-83.
  • Mansell RM. (2004) Optimality Theory Applied to the Analysis of Verse Translation. [PDF]

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External impact and engagement

I have frequently contrubuted to press coverage of translation (The Conversation, BBC Local Radio, Ona Mallorca, Radio Galega), informed regional funding policy for translated literature, and my research has been featured in The Guardian and The Bookseller. 

I have spoken at London Book Fair (2014), been a judge for the prestigious Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (2015) been a panel member (2016) and specialist reader (since 2014) for New Spanish Books, reader for the Ramon Llull International Translation Prize (since 2012) and John Dryden Translation Prize (since 2011). I have also hosted events together with Exeter and Barcelona UNESCO Cities of Literature (April 2022, July 2023, October 2023 and June 2024) and always search for new ways to connect my research expertise to creative partners and local communities.

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Biography

After my BA (Hons) in Hispanic Studies and Catalan Philology from the University of Sheffield and Llicenciatura in Catalan Philology from the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), I gained my PhD on the topic of translators’ decision-making processes from the University of Sheffield, with joint supervision from the UIB. Before joining Exeter in 2006, I was Teaching Fellow in Catalan at Sheffield, and then Lecturer in Spanish at UWE Bristol. Since then, I founded and directed the MA Translation at Exeter (2008-2016), building on the previous MA Applied Translation and MA Literary Translation. 

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