Dr. Philip Mosley, professor of English and comparative literature at Penn State Worthington Scranton, was recently awarded the Prix de la Traduction Littéraire, for his translations of Belgian literature.
The Prix de la Traduction Littéraire has been given annually since 1997 by the French Community of Belgium to a translator who has contributed, through the quality of his/her translations, to the diffusion of Belgian literature in the French language.
It is awarded on a motion from the European College of Literary Translators at Seneffe, Belgium.
Professor Mosley traveled to Belgium to receive his award, at a ceremony conducted at the Castle of Seneffe. The prize also included a monetary award of 5,000 euros, which is approximately $7,000.
While there, he also conducted some further research for a book on the Dardenne brothers, who have received international critical acclaim for their social realist films. Dr. Mosley even had the chance to meet the brothers, Jean-Pierre and Luc, while attending the premiere of their latest film, Lorna's Silence, at the Parc Cinema in Charleroi, Belgium.
The award of the prize followed the publication in 2008 by SUNY Press of Dr. Mosley's most recent translation, the celebrated essay "The Intelligence of Flowers," along with a related piece, "Scents," by Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949), once a famous literary figure in Europe and America, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1911.
"I was fascinated by the title and knew the author was a very fine writer," Dr. Mosley said, when asked what spurred him to take on the task of translating the 1907 work. "I was also fascinated by the idea of flowers as having intelligence."
Dr. Mosley's other translations of Belgian authors include Bruges-la-Morte by Georges Rodenbach, published in 2007 in a new edition by the University of Scranton Press; October Long Sunday by Guy Vaes; Tea Masters, Teahouses by Werner Lambersy; and The Book of the Snow by François Jacqmin.
He is also known locally for his work as editor of Anthracite! An Anthology of Pennsylvania Coal Region Plays, a collection of six plays about the world of coal mining and the injustices and hardships of regional mining life, which was published by the University of Scranton Press in 2006.
