Kate Kent
- PhD student
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About
Thesis title: The translated dramatic works for radio of Samuel Beckett, Marguerite Duras and Robert Pinget 1959-1961
Supervisor: Prof Martin Crowley
Kate completed her undergraduate degree in French and Spanish at St John’s College, Cambridge. During her BA (Hons), she specialised in nineteenth and twentieth century French and Spanish literature and also took a paper in Spanish American history. In her third year she studied at Sorbonne Université (then known as Paris IV). Kate’s undergraduate dissertation involved a comparative study of perceptions of women in metropolitan literature and art of the period 1910-1939, and examined urban environments and the female form. She graduated with first class honours in 1996. Two decades later, Kate completed her PGCE and an MEd at Homerton College, Cambridge, followed by an MPhil in European, Latin American and Comparative Literatures and Cultures (ELAC) at Murray Edwards, Cambridge. Her MPhil thesis focused on misogyny and bilingualism in the work of Samuel Beckett.
Conference papers:
- ‘In Barbara Bray’s words: The translated dramatic works of Samuel Beckett and Marguerite Duras 1960-1969’ – Cambridge French Graduate Research Seminar (January 2023)
- ‘1959-1961: An early “cultural turn” at the BBC Third?’ – In person poster presentation at the Society for French Studies Annual Conference in Newcastle (June 2023)
- ‘Intertextuality, Intermediality and Radio Afterlives: Duras’s Les Papiers d’Aspern 1961’ – Online poster presentation for the Society for French Studies Annual Conference in Stirling (July 2024)
- Panel Chair for Panel 2B: ‘Power, knowledge, and subversion’ at the ‘Deviations’ themed Society for French Studies Postgraduate Conference in London (July 2024)
- ‘Intertextuality, intermediality and performative afterlives: the relevance of Walter Benjamin's constellations to translation and adaptation processes’ - AHRC / OOC-DTP International ‘Constellations’ themed Conference at Robinson College, Cambridge (* September 2024)
Scholarships and Prizes:
- Prize Scholarship awarded by St. John’s College for final MML Tripos Examinations 1996
- Prize for the winning entry in the Society for French Studies postgraduate poster competition 2024
Other activities and roles:
Kate is a founding member and steering committee member of the newly formed Cambridge Translation Studies Network.
Research
Kate’s doctoral research is based within the fields of translation and adaptation studies. Her focus is on Samuel Beckett’s early work for radio, his collaborative and self-translations in the context of his relationship with Barbara Bray, and Bray’s translations of both Marguerite Duras’s and Robert Pinget’s dramatic works. Kate is particularly interested in the cultural and theatrical milieux of 1950s and 1960s Paris and London, and in the role of the medium of radio (and the BBC’s Third Programme in particular) in promoting and disseminating translated dramatic work. Her research interests also include intertextuality and intermediality, the interplay between stage and radio drama and the impact of translated works in mid-twentieth century broadcasting.
Teaching and supervision
Kate is a qualified teacher and completed her MEd (Research in Second Language Education) whilst teaching French in a Cambridgeshire secondary school. She currently teaches basic and intermediate language classes with the Cambridge University Language Centre, and also runs French and Spanish Clubs for primary school children.