Now Sing: Reflections on Modernism and Queering Translation

Now Sing explores translations by Ezra Pound, Langston Hughes, and H.D. through the idea of queering translation. Queering translation, Bancroft argues, is a mode of translation that resists dominant practices, such as a fluent knowledge of the source language or the continuing suppression of marginalized identities, like women and queerness. Using ideas espoused by Jack Halberstam, Elizabeth Grosz, and William Spurlin as foundations for his arguments, Bancroft demonstrates that queering translation disrupts canonicity as Pound, Hughes, and H.D. resist traditional practices that canonical translations tend to assume. Now Sing intervenes in current discussions regarding New Modernist Studies, specifically, in areas of gender, sexuality, and race. Ultimately, this study expands contemporary conversations regarding Modernism and its lasting importance in the twenty-first century.