Campus Digest

New book launched in memory of Professor Martha Cheung

22 Jun 2016

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(From left): Professor Zhu Chunshen, Professor Douglas Robinson and Dr Gloria Lee share with the audience at the book launch event
"The Pushing-Hands of Translation and its Theory: In memoriam Martha Cheung, 1953-2013"

 

The Centre for Translation organised a book launch event on 13 June 2016 to mark the publication of a new book edited by Professor Douglas Robinson, Chair Professor of English, entitled The Pushing-Hands of Translation and its Theory: In memoriam Martha Cheung, 1953-2013.

 

The book is to commemorate the life and work of the late Professor Martha Cheung, former Director of the Centre for Translation, who passed away in September 2013 before she had a chance to further develop her innovative “pushing-hands” approach to translation.

 

At the book launch, Professor Robinson recalled his memory of Professor Martha Cheung and how the idea of pushing forward her theoretical framework in translation studies finally came to form an edited volume.

 

Two chapter contributors, Professor Zhu Chunshen of City University of Hong Kong and Dr Gloria Lee of HKBU Translation Programme, were also invited to share with the audience their memories of Professor Martha Cheung and how her pushing-hands approach in translation studies had influenced them.

 

Pushing-hands was an idea Professor Martha Cheung began exploring in the last four years of her life, and only had time to publish at article length in 2012. The concept of pushing-hands suggests a promising line of inquiry into the problem of conflict in translation. Pushing-hands opens a new vista for translation scholars to understand and explain how to develop an awareness of non-confrontational, alternative ways to handle translation problems or problems related to translation activities that are likely to give rise to tension and conflict.