The Colonel Controversy

The biggest hubbub at ALTA this year was about Colonel Gregory Fontenot, director of the University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies at Fort Leavenworth, KS, who gave a speech entitled, “Translating in Support of Military Operations.”

For reasons that probably don’t need to be explained, this title didn’t sit well with a large portion of ALTA members, who came ready to take Fontenot down no matter what he said . . . And to be honest, the only reason I attended this was to see what erupted.

In the end though, his speech really wasn’t nearly as offensive as I expected. Sure, he rambled a bit, and granted, at times he did come off as the guy attending a panel who stands up to ask a “question” and instead gives an endless explanation of his life, ideas, etc., but aside from some poor word choices and mentioning a discussion of the pro and con side of female genital castration (which is just something you shouldn’t bring up in front of such an audience), his talk was fairly safe and filled with platitudes we could all agree with such as “literary translations help us to understand other cultures.”

In a way, it was enlightening to see that someone in the U.S. Military actually has an interest in translations—One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of Col. Fontenot’s favorite books—and even if his appreciation and discussion of the issues was a bit simplistic, at least he’s aware.

I should say that a number of people who were there would be much more critical than I’m being. Personally, I wasn’t as offended as sort of perplexed and mesmerized by his speech, especially some of the terms he used. My favorite was “google up,” as in “google up Eco to find out about The Name of the Rose. It’s got such a nice feel to it—much more active than simply “googling” something. And it works well with an exclamation point: Google Up!