Chair, Department of Comparative Literature; Professor of South Asian Literature and Postcolonial Theory, Asian Languages and Cultures and Comparative Literature
merrillc@umich.eduOffice Information:
202 S. Thayer, Suite 6111; Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1608
phone: 734.647.2096
Comparative Literature; South Asia; Global South; Translation Studies; Genre; Race and Ethnicity; Colonialism and Postcolonialism; Department Administration
Education/Degree:
Ph.D., Comparative Literature, University of IowaHighlighted Work and Publications
Riddles of Belonging: India in Translation & Other Tales of Possession
Christi A. Merrill
Can the subaltern joke? Christi A. Merrill answers by invoking riddling, oral-based fictions from Hindi, Rajasthani, Sanskrit, and Urdu that dare to laugh at what traditions often keep hidden-whether spouse abuse, ethnic violence, or the uncertain legacies of a divinely wrought sex change.
Herself a skilled translator, Merrill uses these examples to investigate the expectation that translated work should allow the non-English-speaking subaltern to speak directly to the English-speaking reader. She plays with the trope of speaking to argue against treating a translated text as property...
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