Constructing Cultures Essay on Literary Translation

by Bassnett, Susan; Lefevere, Andre

• ISBN13: 9781853593529
• ISBN10: 1853593524
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-03-06
• Publisher: Multilingual Matters

Summary

Translation Studies is currently one of the fastest growing interdisciplinary subjects in the world. Constructing Cultures brings together for the first time the work of the two translator/scholars who are regarded as founders of this major field of study. This collection of essays continues to develop some of the principal research lines that both have been pursuing in recent years, most specifically the cultural turn in Translation Studies. Among topics discussed are Chinese and Western theories of translation, the limits of translatability, when is a translation not a translation, why cultures develop certain genres at certain times, what is the relationship between Translation Studies and Cultural Studies. Some essays are genre specific, focusing on theatre translation or the translating of poetry, others are devoted to specific case studies, and consider the fortunes of such major writers as Virgil or Brecht in English.

Author Biography

Susan Bassnett is Professor in the Centre for British and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Warwick. Andre Lefevere (1946-1996) was one of the world's leading figures in Translation Studies.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Foreword	p. ix
Introduction: Where are we in Translation Studies?	p. 1
Chinese and Western Thinking on Translation	p. 12
When is a Translation not a Translation?	p. 25
Translation Practice(s) and the Circulation of Cultural Capital. Some Aeneids in English	p. 41
Transplanting the Seed: Poetry and Translation	p. 57
The Gates of Analogy: the Kalevala in English	p. 76
Still Trapped in the Labyrinth: Further Reflections on Translation and Theatre	p. 90
Acculturating Bertolt Brecht	p. 109
The Translation Turn in Cultural Studies	p. 123
Index	p. 141
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