Conference
The Universality of Literature: Giacomo Prampolini, Translator and Mediator
- Date
- Friday 12 June 2026
- Time
- Location
-
Academy Building
Rapenburg 73
2311 GJ Leiden - Room
- Telders Auditorium
Can one person read the world? Can one person organize world literature? Giacomo Prampolini was the man who tried. This Italian polyglot and cultural mediator shaped world literature through translation and canon formation. His ambition was to read all the literatures of the world in their original languages. Minority languages were central to this vision: he described them as “a tree in springtime” and studied them with particular care.
In the twentieth century Prampolini attracted major attention. He was a highly respected figure in Dutch literary circles - the novelist Arthur van Schendel reportedly trusted no Italian translator other than Prampolini.
Recently, he has been rediscovered through the Mappi-Ned research project (NWO-funded), together with extensive correspondence with Dutch, Flemish and Frisian writers. This has revealed new, unpublished materials and opened fresh perspectives on his work. How did Prampolini choose his materials? Which traditions were included or excluded, and why? To what extent did he rely on networks of informants and collaborators?
Program
09:00 - 09:30 - Registration and coffee
09:30 - 10:00 - Introduction by Carmen Van den Bergh (Universiteit Leiden)
10:00 - 10:30 - Gaetano Prampolini (Università di Firenze) on Giacomo Prampolini's translations from English
10:30 - 11:00 - Alderik Blom (Philipps-Universitat Marburg) on Prampolini's Breton translations
11:00 - 11:30 - Rint Sybesma (Universiteit Leiden) on Prampolini's Tang Poetry
11:30 - 11:45 - Q/A
12:00 - 13:30 - Lunch break
13:30 - 14:00 - Sybren Sybesma (Universiteit Leiden) on Prampolini's translations from Frisian
14:00 - 14:30 - Goran Bouaziz (Universiteit Leiden) on Prampolini's translations of Indonesian pantun poetry
14:30 - 15:00 - Franco Paris (Università di Napoli L'Orientale) on Prampolini's Dutch translation of Van Schendel's novel
15:00 - 15:15 - Q/A
15:15 - 16:00 - The Anthologies of Prampolini (by the Mappi-Ned research group) Marjolein van Zuylen (subject librarian) in collaboration with Goran Bouaziz, Lorenzo Demma, Fernanda de Martino, Hanneke Perton, Sybren Sybesma, Katja Timmer, Rita Vitello and Carmen Van den Bergh
16:00 - 17:00 - Pop-up exhibition in the University library. Featuring books from our Special Collections, including the seven-volume Universal History of Literature as well as the anthologies and translations discussed during the conference
Registration
Participation is free. Linguists, literary historians, translators, polyglots, and all interested in literature across borders are warmly invited.
Free registration: https://forms.gle/pawVRoxNZ8Vc8kNE9