The Role of Translators in ChildrenÆs Literature: Invisible Storytellers

by Lathey; Gillian

• ISBN13: 9780415989527
• ISBN10: 0415989523
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-06-23
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Translations dominate the earliest history of texts written for children in English, and stories translated from other languages have continued to shape its course to the present day. This book traces, for the first time, the role of the translator and the impact of translations on the history of English-language children's literature from the ninth century onwards. Discussion of key texts in each era will highlight case studies revealing fluctuations in the reception of children's texts from different languages, as well as instances of cultural mediation by translators and editors. Abridgement, adaptation and alteration by translators have often been viewed in a negative light. Yet a closer examination of historical translators' prefaces reveals a far more varied picture than that of faceless conduits or wilful bowdlerisers. From William Caxton's dedication of his translated History of Jason to young Prince Edward in 1477 ('to thentent/he may begynne to lerne read Englissh'), to Edgar Taylor's justification of the first translation into English of Grimms' tales as a means of promoting children's imaginations in an age of reason, translators have recorded in prefaces and other writings their didactic, religious, aesthetic, financial and even political purposes for translating children's texts.

Author Biography

Gillian Lathey is Director of the National Centre for Research in Children's Literature at Roehampton University London. She is a member of the judging panel for the biennial Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation in the UK and is the editor of The Translation of Children's Literature: A Reader (2006).

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	p. ix
Series Editor's Foreword	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
Preface	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
Didactic Translation: Religious Texts, Courtesy Books, Schoolbooks, and Political Persuasion	p. 15
Popular Fiction in Translation: The Child as Consumer of Romances and Fables in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods	p. 31
Tales of the Marvellous 1690-1760: The Arabian Nights and the French Fairy Tale	p. 43
Imagination, Reason, and Mapping the World 1750-1820	p. 59
Religious Stories and the Artful Fairy Tale in the Nineteenth Century	p. 79
The Translating Woman: Assertive Professional or Invisible Storyteller	p. 95
Summary of Part One: Translation Practices and the Child Audience	p. 111
Part Two Introduction	p. 125
Into the Twentieth Century: Classics, the Folk Tale, and Internationalism 1870-1940	p. 127
Rewarding Translation for Children: Landmark Translations from 1940 and the Batchelder and Marsh Awards	p. 145
Retranslation in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries: For Children or Adults?	p. 161
Translators' Voices	p. 175
From Anonymity to Global Marketing: The Role of Translators in Children's Literature	p. 195
Notes	p. 205
Bibliography	p. 217
Index	p. 233
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