The Comparative Literature department is proud to share that our very own Quentin Véron has been awarded the Theron Rockwell Field Prize(Link is external) (Link opens in new window). This award is bestowed upon one outstanding scholarly work of a poetic, literary, or religious nature each year. Quentin’s work entitled The End of the Impossible: a translation and commentary of Émile Ajar/Romain Gary’s “Gros-Câlin” (1974) impressed the judges. Notably, the translation of Romain Gary’s Gros-Câlin has never before been attempted and for good reason. As one of his senior essay readers commented, ”It is a relentless high-hurdle race of amusing malaprops, puns, literary allusions, and situational comedy. The difficulty of making the English feel idiomatic while also conveying the absurdity and humor of Ajar’s writing can’t be overstated.” Next year he will be starting an MFA in Literary Translation and an MA in French at the University of Iowa.
Congratulations to him on this astounding work and much-deserved prize!