GRACLS 2026 Conference in Comparative Literature

The UT Program in Comparative Literature and the UT Graduate Association of Comparative Literature Students (GRACLS) are proud to announce the 21st Annual GRACLS Conference in Comparative Literature:

GRACLS 2026: Global Imagination 

Translation, Transcreation, and the Untranslatable 

In 2022, OpenAI changed the landscape of translation. However, AI and machine translation only represent the surface value between languages, as “AI has very little understanding of nuance, subtlety, humor, or any of the other aspects of really good writing” (McKay). Much as AI translation can only approximate translation from one language to another, language itself can only approximate translation from the self to the other. 

All communication is interpretation; all language is imprecise. How do we navigate these gaps? How do we attempt to bridge them? How can these spaces between what we mean, what we say, and what we understand be productive? Language is a powerful creative force that structures society and communication, and yet language is also an imperfect tool.   

This year, our Keynote Speaker will be Dr. Jacques Lezra. A Professor and Chair of Hispanic Studies at the University of California, Riverside, Dr. Lezra is a scholar of comparative and Spanish-language literature whose work spans philosophy, Marxism, early modern European literature and visual culture, and the theory and practice of translation. His research is particularly attentive to questions of political thought, the circulation of ideas, and the limits of translatability across languages and intellectual traditions. His scholarship speaks directly to the concerns of this conference by offering tools to think about how texts, concepts, and forms of knowledge travel across linguistic, cultural, and historical contexts. In particular, his work on translation and “untranslatability” helps us reflect on what is gained, lost, or transformed in these movements.