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UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA

School of Literature and Creative Writing

MA IN LITERARY TRANSLATION

LITEM036: Translation Theory

Tutor: Jean Boase-Beier Spring 2011 Thursdays 2-4

This module discusses key theoretical and descriptive pronouncements on translation bytheorists and practising translations working mainly within the Western tradition.However, we will try to look at other traditions as well, depending on the expertise andinterests of the members of the group. The focus is predominantly on contemporarywork, with some older commentary providing historical context. Students are encouragedto explore their own theoretical interests and present their findings in class.

The week-by-week plan is as follows:

1. Introduction: aims and structure of unit. Translation studies, linguistics andliterary theory. Terms and concepts; theory and practice.Reading: Bassnett 1991: Chapter 1; Steiner 1992: Chapter 4; Jakobson in Schulte& Biguenet 1992 (S&B): 144-151; Boase-Beier & Holman 1999: Chapter 1Chesterman & Wagner 2002

2. Reading translators prefaces and notesReading: Preface to KingJames Bible; Introduction to Lowell 1958; Prefaces andnotes to Visible Poets Series

3. Historical pronouncements on translationReading: dAblancourt in Lefevre 1992 (L): 35-37; Dryden in S&B: 17-31; Popein L: 64-66; Tytler in L: 128-135; Schleiermacher in L: 141-165; Goethe in L: 74-78; Schlegel in L:78-80; Benjamin in S&B: 71-82: Pound in S&B: 83-92

4. Linguistic theories of translationReading: Nida in Brower 1966: 11-31; Nida 1964: Chapter 6; Catford 1965;Malmkjaer 2005

5. Polysystem theory, norms and Descriptive Translation StudiesReading: Gentzler 2001: 106-144: Even-Zohar and Toury in Venuti 2000: 192-7,198-21

6. Translation and ethics, domesticating and foreignising. Postcolonial translationReading: Berman in Venuti 2000: Venuti 1995, esp. Chapters 1 and 6; Venuti1998; Bassnett & Trivedi 1999; Tymoczko 2007

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7. Reading Week: work on essay preparation

8. Cognitive Stylistic Approaches

Reading: Boase-Beier 2004; Gutt in Venuti 2000; Boase-Beier 2006b

9. Gender and translationReading: Simon 1996

10. Functional theoriesReading: Nord 1997

11. The importance of non-Western theories for the study of translation in EnglandReading: Chung 2006; Hung & Wakabayashi 2005; Curran 2008

12 Memes of translation. The effects of theory on practiceReading: Chesterman 1997

TRANSLATION THEORY READING LIST

1. Historical Survey

Marcus Tullius Cicero 106-43 BC De oratore 55 BC

Quintilian 35-96 AD Institutio Oratoria 96 AD

St Jerome 345 - 419/20 Letter to Pammachius c.406 AD

Lindisfarne Gospels 777

Roger Bacon c. 1214 - 1292 De lingarum cognito 1267

John Wycliffe 1320 - 1384 Wycliffe Bible 1330 - 84

Desiderius Erasmus 1466 - 1536 Letter to William Warham1506; New Testament 1516

Martin Luther 1483 - 1546 Sendbrief vomDolmetschen 1530

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William Tyndale 1494 - 1536 Tyndale's New Testament1525

Sir Thomas Wyatt 1503 - 1542 Translations of Petrarch'ssonnets

Etienne Dolet 1509 - 1546 De la manire bien traduired'une langue en autre 1540

Earl of Surrey 1517 - 1547 Translations of Petrarch'ssonnets

Philemon Holland 1552 - 1637 'Preface to the Reader' inPliny's History of the World1634

George Chapman c. 1559 - 1634 Iliad1598Nicolas Perrot d'Ablancourt 1606 - 1664 Translations of Cicero 1638

King James Bible Preface The Translators tothe Reader 1611

Sir John Denham 1615 - 1669 Preface to theAneid1656

Abraham Cowley 1618 - 1667 Preface to the Pindariques1656

John Dryden 1631 - 1700 Preface to Ovid's Epistles1680

Alexander Pope 1688 -1744 Iliad1715

Alexander Fraser Tytler Essay on the Principles ofTranslation 1790

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 - 1832 Schriften zur Literatur1824

Madame de Stael 1766 - 1817 De l'esprit des traductions1821

August Wilhelm Schlegel 1767 - 1845 Schlegel - Tieck Shakespeare1797 1833

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Friedrich Schleiermacher 1768 - 1834 ber die verschiedenenMethoden des bersetzens1812

Wilhelm von Humboldt 1767 - 1835 Preface toAgamemnon 1816

Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 - 1834 The Death of Wallenstein1800

Percy Bysshe Shelley 1792 - 1822 A Defence of Poetry 1821

Thomas Carlyle 1795 - 1881 The State of GermanLiterature 1827

Edward Fitzgerald 1809 - 1863 The Rubaiyat of OmarKhayyam 1859

George Eliot 1819 - 1880 The Essence of ChristianityL. Feuerbach, 1854

Matthew Arnold 1822 - 1868 On Translating Homer 1861

Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 - 1882 Dante and his Circle 1861

Hilaire Belloc 1870 - 1953 On Translation 1931

Ezra Pound 1885 - 1972 Cathay 1915

Marianne Moore 1887 - 1972 The Fables of La Fontaine1954

Walter Benjamin 1892 - 1940 'The Task of the Translator'1923

Helen Waddell 1889 - 1965 Mediaeval Latin Lyrics 1948

Roman Jakobson 1896 - 1982 On Linguistic Aspects ofTranslation 1959

Vladimir Nabokov 1899 - 1977 Problems of Translation:Onegin in English, 1955

2. Contemporary ViewsAdab, B. & C. Valds, eds. (2004) Key Debates in the Translation of AdvertisingMaterial [Special Issue ofThe Translator], Manchester: St Jerome.

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Alln, S., ed. (1999) Translation of Poetry and Poetic Prose, London: World Scientific.

Alvarez, R., & M. Carmen-Africa Vidal (1996) Translation, Power, Subversion,Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Baker, M. ed. (2009) Critical Readings inTtranslation Studies, London: Routledge.

Barnstone, W. (1993) The Poetics of Translation, London: Yale University Press.

Bassnett, S. (1991) (2nd ed.) Translation Studies, London: Methuen.

Bassnett, S & P. Bush, eds. (2006) The Translator as Writer, London: Continuum.

Bassnett, S. & A. Lefevere (1990) Translation, History, Culture, London: Cassell.

Bassnett, S. & H. Trivedi, eds., (1999) Post-Colonial Translation: Theory and Practice,London: Routledge.

Batchelor, K. (2009) Decolonising Translation: Francophone African Novels in EnglishTranslation, Manchester: St Jerome Publishing.

Beaugrande, R. de (1978) Factors in a Theory of Poetic Translation, Assen: VanGorcum.

Behn, Aphra (1993) Seneca Unmasked and Other Prose Translations in Todd, TheWorks of Aphra Behn, vol. 4. London: Pickering.

Belitt, B. (1978)Adam's Dream: A Preface to Translation, New York: Grove.

Berman, A. (1984) L'Epreuve de l'tranger, Paris: Gallimard [translated as TheExperience of the Foreign, 1992. Albany: State University of NY].

Berman, A. (1995) Pour une critique des traductions: John Donne, Paris: Gallimard.

Biguenet, J, & R Schulte, eds. (1989) The Craft of Translation, Chicago: University ofChicago Press.

Boase-Beier, J, (2005) Bringing Together Science and Poetry, Comparative CriticalStudies, 2/1.

Boase-Beier, J. (2006a) Stylistic Approaches to Translation, Manchester: St Jerome.

Boase-Beier , J. (2006b) Loosening the Grip of the Text: Theory as Aid to Creativity, inPerteghella, M and E. Loffredo, eds. Translation and Creativity, London: Continuum

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Boase-Beier, J. & M. Holman (1999) The Practices of Literary Translation: Constraintsand Creativity. Manchester: St Jerome.

Brodzki, B. (2007) Can These Bones Live? Stanford: Stanford UP.

Brower, R. A., ed. (1959) On Translation, New York: OUP.

Brower, R.A. (1974) Mirror on Mirror: Translation, Imitation, Parody, Cambridge,Mass: Harvard UP.

Catford, J. C. (1965)A Linguistic Theory of Translation, Oxford: OUP.

Chan, Leo Tak-Hung, ed. (2004) Twentieth-Century Chinese Translation Theory,Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Chesterman, A. (1997) Memes of Translation, Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Chesterman, A. & E. Wagner (2002) Can Theory Help Translators, Manchester: StJerome.

Cheung, M. P., ed. (2006) An Anthology of Chinese Discourse on Translation,Manchester: St Jerome Publishing.

Cheung, M. ed. (2009) Chinese Discourses on Translation [Special Edition of TheTranslator].

Crandell, T. E., ed. (1975) Translators and Translating, Binghampton: New York StateUP.

Cronin, M. (2003) Translation and Globalisation, London: Routledge.

Curran, B. ed. (2008) Theatre Translation Theory and Performance in ContemporaryJapan, Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.

Evan-Zohar, I. (1990) Polysystem Studies, Tel Aviv: Porter Institute.

Evan-Zohar, I. & G. Toury, eds. (1981) Translation Theory and Intercultural Relations,Poetics Today 214.

Fawcett, P. (1997) Translation and Language: Linguistics Theories Explained,Manchester: St Jerome.

Flotow, L. von (1997) Translation and Gender: Translating in the 'Era of Feminism' ,Manchester: St Jerome.

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Frawley, W., ed. (1984) Translation: Literary, Linguistic and Philosophical Perspectives,Newark: University of Delaware Press.

Gentzler, E. (2001) Contemporary Translation Theories, London: Routledge.

Graham, J., ed. (1985)Difference in Translation, Ithaca: Cornell UP.

Gutt, E.-A. (2000) Translation and Relevance, Manchester: St Jerome.

Hardwick, L. (2000) Translating Worlds, Translating Cultures, London: Dudworth.

Hatim, B. & I. Mason (1997) The Translator as Communicator, London: Routledge.

Hatim, B. & I. Mason (1990)Discourse and the Translator, London: Longman.

Hermans, T. ed. (1985) The Manipulation of Literature: Studies in Literary Translation,

London: Croom-Helm.Hermans, T. (1999) Translation in Systems: Descriptive and Systemic ApproachesExplained, Manchester: St Jerome.

Holmes, J. (1988) Translated! Papers on Literary Translation and Translation Studies,Amsterdam: Rodopi.

Honig, E. (1985) The Poet's Other Voice: Conversations on Literary Translation,Amherst: University of Mass. UP.

Hung, E & J. Wakabayashi, eds. (2005) Asian Translation Traditions, Manchester: StJerome Publishing.

Hyde, G. (1993) The Whorf-Sapir Hypothesis and the Translation Muddle, Translationand Literature, Vol 2: 3-16.

Jin, Di (2003)Literary Translation: Quest for Artistic Integrity, Manchester: St Jerome.

Katan, D. (1999) Translating Cultures, Manchester: St Jerome.

Kelly, L. G. (1979) The True Interpreter: A History of Translation Theory and Practicein the West, Oxford: Blackwell.

Kuhiwczak, P. & K. Littau, eds. (2007) A Companion to Translation Studies, Clevedon:Multilingual Matters.

Lathey, G., ed. (2006) The Translation of Childrens Literature: A Reader, Clevedon:Multilingual Matters.

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Lefevere, A (1975) Translating Poetry, Assen: Van Gorcum.

Lefevere, A., ed. (1977) Translating Literature: The German Tradition from Luther toRosenzweig, Assen: Von Gorcum.

Lefevere, A.,ed. (1992) Translation/History/Culture: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge.

Long, L., ed. (2005) Translation and Religion, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Lowell, R. (1958)Imitations, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Malmkjaer, K. (2005)Linguistics and the Language ofTranslation, Edinburgh: EUP.

Mossop, B. ( 2007) Revising and Editing for Translators, Manchester: St Jerome.

Munday, J. (2001)Introducing Translation Studies, London: Routledge.

Munday, J. (2009) The Routledge Companion to Translation Studies, London: Routledge.

Newmark, P. (1981)Approaches to Translation, Oxford: Pergamon.

Nair, R. B. (2002) Translation, Text and Theory: The Paradigm of India, New Delhi:Sage.

Nida, E. A. (1964) Towards a Science of Translating, Leiden: Brill.

Nord, C. (1997) Translating as a Purposeful Activity, Manchester: St Jerome.

Parks, T (2007) Translating Style, London: Cassell

Paz, O. (1971) Traduccin: Literatura y literalida, Barcelona: Tusquets.

Perteghella, M. & E Loffredo, eds. (2006) Translation and Creativity: Perspectives onCreative Writing and Translation Studies, London: Continuum.

Pym, A. (1998)Method in Translation History, Manchester: St Jerome.

Pym, A (2009)Exploring Translation Theories, London: Routledge.

Raffel, B. (1971) The Forked Tongue: A Study of the Translation Process, The Hague:Mouton.

Rener F. M. (1989) Language and Translation from Cicero to Tytler, Amsterdam:Rodopi.

Robinson, D. (1997) Western Translation Theory, Manchester: St Jerome.

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Robinson, D. (1997) Translation and Empire: Postcolonial Theories Explained,Manchester: St Jerome.

Rose, M. Gaddis (1997) Translation and Literary Criticism, Manchester: St Jerome.

Santaemilia, J. , ed. (2005) Gender, Sex and Translation, Manchester: St Jerome.

Schulte, R. and J. Biguenet, eds. (1992) Theories of Translation: An Anthology of Essaysfrom Dryden to Derrida, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Scott, C. (2000) Translating Baudelaire, Exeter: University of Exeter Press.

Simon, S. (1996) Gender in Translation: Cultural Identity and the Politics ofTransmission, London: Routledge.

Snell-Hornby, M. (1988) Translation Studies: An Integrated Approach, Amsterdam:Benjamins.

Snell-Hornby, M. (2006) The Turns of Translation Studies, Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Steiner, G. (1975)After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation, Oxford: OUP.

Steiner, T. (1975)English Translation Theory 1650 1800, Assen: Van Gorcum.

Toury, G. (1980)In Search of a Theory of Translation, Tel Aviv: Porter Institute.

Toury, G. (1995)Descriptive Translation Studies - and Beyond, Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Tymoczko, M (1999) Translation in a Post-Colonial Context: Early Irish Literature inEnglish Translation, Manchester: St Jerome.

Tymoczko, M (2007) Enlarging Translation, Empowering Translators, Manchester: StJerome Publishing.

Upton, C.-A., ed. (2000) Moving Target: Theatre Translation and Cultural Relocation,Manchester: St Jerome.

Van Coillie, J. & W. Verschueren, eds. (2006) Childrens Literature in Translation,Manchester: St Jerome.

Venuti, L., ed. (1992) Rethinking Translation: Discourse, Subjectivity, Ideology, London:Routledge.

Venuti, L. (1995) The Translator's Invisibility, London: Routledge.

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Venuti, L. (1998) The Scandals of Translation: Towards an Ethics of Difference,London: Routledge.

Venuti, L., ed. (2000) The Translation Studies Reader. London: Routledge.

Venuti, L., ed. (2004) The Translation Studies Reader. [Second (different)edition],London: Routledge.

Weissbort, D., ed. (1989) Translating Poetry: The Double Labyrinth, London:Macmillan.

Weissbort, D. & A. Eysteinsson, eds. (2006) Translation Theory and Practice: AHistorical Reade, Oxford: OUP.

Williams, J. & A. Chesterman (2002) The Map: A Beginners Guide to Doing Researchin Translation Studies, Manchester: St Jerome.

Wilss, W. (1996) Knowledge and Skills in Translator Behaviour, Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Zuber, O.,ed. (1980) The Languages of Theatre, Oxford: Pergamon.

3. Reference BooksRoutledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (ed. Mona Baker), 1998

The Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English (ed. Olive Classe), 2000

The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation (ed. Peter France), 2000

4.Journals

Babel

Modern Poetry in Translation

Target

Translation and Literature

Translation Review

The Translator: Studies in Intercultural Communication

5. Related Areas

Iser, W. (2006)How to do Theory, Oxford: Blackwell.

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Rutherford, J., ed. (1990)Identity, Community, Culture, Difference, London: Lawrence &Wishart.

Sperber, D. (1996)Explaining Culture, London: Blackwell.

6. Novels, Poetry and Memoirs

Aboulela, Leila (1999) The Translator, Edinburgh: Polygon.

Hoffman, Eva (1989)Lost in Translation: Life in a New Language, London: Heinemann.

Lee, Chang-rae (1995)Native Speaker, London: Granta.

Visible Poets series