Tradução e lógica empresarial na viragem para o séc. XX.
Ensaiando metodologias que aproximam os Estudos de Tradução da História do Livro e da Leitura, partimos da análise do catálogo de editoras portuguesas de grande projecção no período em apreço, para caracterizar o circuito das (para)literaturas traduzidas, nas suas fases de produção, distribuição e consumo.
Mediante um estudo de caso, procuramos entender como as relações de procura e oferta no mercado cultural contribuiram para condicionar a selecção de autores, géneros e formas, susceptíveis de maior êxito e popularidade, além de imporem normas translatórias específicas e configurações tipográficas adequadas.
Showing posts with label abstracts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label abstracts. Show all posts
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Conference Programme
International Conference
Translation in 19th- and 20th-century anthologies and collections
Translation in 19th- and 20th-century anthologies and collections
6-7 May 2010
6 May
9.30h-10.15h Opening session
6 May
9.30h-10.15h Opening session
Room Exposições
10.15h-11.00h Lieven D’hulst
Formes et fonctions des anthologies et collections de traductions
en langue française (1800-1850)
Chair: Teresa Seruya
Chair: Teresa Seruya
11.00h-11.30h Coffee break
Room Exposições
11.30h-14.00h
Anthologizing Weltliteratur
Chair: Patricia Odber Baubeta
Chair: Patricia Odber Baubeta
Poetry Anthologies as Projects of Weltliteratur. A Cultural Translational Approach - Ana Maria Bernardo
Critical Translation Anthologies and the Case of Literary Translations in Iran – Hashemi & Faridi
The Short Story in English meets the Portuguese Reader: A Contribution Toward the ‘External History’ of Portuguese Anthologies of Short Stories Translated from English – Alexandra Assis Rosa
Antologias de contos estrangeiros em Portugal nos anos 40 e 50 do século XX – Vanessa Castagna
Critical Translation Anthologies and the Case of Literary Translations in Iran – Hashemi & Faridi
The Short Story in English meets the Portuguese Reader: A Contribution Toward the ‘External History’ of Portuguese Anthologies of Short Stories Translated from English – Alexandra Assis Rosa
Antologias de contos estrangeiros em Portugal nos anos 40 e 50 do século XX – Vanessa Castagna
Room Timor
11.30h-14.00h
National and Local Literatures in Anthology
Chair: Cristina Goméz Castro
Chair: Cristina Goméz Castro
Antologias, tradução e a busca do reconhecimento além-fronteiras. O caso madeirense – Fournier & Santos
From silence to eloquence: perspectives on the anthology Poesia alemã traduzida no Brasil – J. Azenha Júnior
Translation of Polish literary and non-literary texts on the Portuguese book market: publishing houses, anthologies and collections – Hanna Pięta
Anthologies of British Literature in Portugal and Hungary between 1949 and 1974 – Zsofia Gombár
14.00h-15.30h Lunch break
Room Exposições
15.30h-16.15h Martha Cheung
15.30h-16.15h Martha Cheung
Academic Naval-gazing or a Postcolonial Imperative? –
Pages from the Notebook of a Translation Anthologist
Chair: Maria Lin Moniz
Chair: Maria Lin Moniz
16.15h-16.30h Coffee break
Room Exposições
16.30h-19.00h
Non-Literary Anthologies
Chair: Alexandra Assis Rosa
Chair: Alexandra Assis Rosa
Anthologies on translation in Spain and Portugal: a critical review – Sabio Pinilla
Anthologizing Brazilian Discourse on Translation – Márcia Martins
Philosophical collections, translation and censorship – Uribarri Zenekorta
Room Timor
16.30h - 19.00h
@nthology_poetry_online
Chair: Carmen Camus
Chair: Carmen Camus
Developing a Poetry Collection in a Virtual Forum: A Case Study – Jeffrey Childs
Antologias de nonsense – Conceição Pereira
Upgrading the sebenta: the collaborative anthology in the literary translation course – M. Vale de Gato
English-Spanish Translations of Poetry Anthologies in Franco's Spain - Sergio Lobejón Santos.
20.00h Conference dinner
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7 May
Room Exposições
10.00h-10.45h João Almeida Flor
Tradução e lógica empresarial na viragem para o século XX
Chair: Christine Zurbach
10.45h-11.15h Coffee break
Room Exposições
11.15h-13.45h
Censoring Adventurers, Aliens and Cowboys
Chair: José A. Sabio Pinilla
Between Translation and Authorship: the Invention of the Other – Maria Lin Moniz
The Reception of Anthologies of Science Fiction and Horror & Terror Tales in the Last Years of Francoist Spain: Censoring Aliens and Monsters – Cristina G. Castro
The Censored Discourse in Anthologies and Collections of the Far West – Carmen C. Camus
Room Timor
11.15h-13.45h
Anthologies, Censorship and Power
Chair: Hanna Pięta
From „Russian obligatory” to „Russian unnecessary” – The rise and fall of an anthology initiative – Zsuzsa Hetényi
Translating German Poetry in French during the Occupation (1940-44): the Anthology of R. Lasne and G. Rabuse (1943) – Christine Lombez
The importance of being anthologized. Oscar Wilde as a case study for a reflection on anthologies of translated literature – Ana Teresa Santos
Os ramos de flores de Oscar Wilde no jardim português – Maria Lúcia Diogo Ayres d'Abreu
13.45h-15.00h Lunch break
Room Exposições
15.00h-15.45h Patricia Baubeta
Treachery and double crossings: when adult fiction is translated for children
Chair: J. Ferreira Duarte
15.45h-16.00h Coffee break
Room Exposições
16.00h-18.30h
Anthologizing the Orient
Chair: Ana Maria Bernardo
Extra-European Literatures in Anthology During the New State – Teresa Seruya
Cancioneiro chinês: The First Portuguese Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry – Marta Pinto
Canon Wars: The Vintage Book of Indian Writing vs. The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature – Ana Mendes
18.30h Closing session
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Martha P. Y. CHEUNG (Hong Kong Baptist University, China)
Academic Naval-gazing or a Postcolonial Imperative? – Pages from the Notebook of a Translation Anthologist
What are the excitement, burden and responsibilities of a postcolonial translator and/or translation scholar? The excitement, I believe, lies in a heightened awareness of what we can do and achieve as a translator/translation scholar. We now have a lot more roles to play than the traditional ones of an efficient cross-lingual cross-cultural communicator, or a dispassionate, professional manufacturer of cultural products. We can choose to be a cultural mediator, an innovative image-maker, or an architect-cum-builder of a project of political and or ideological import, to name but just a few of the new possibilities open to us. Of course, possibilities carry with them the burden of choice, of divided loyalties. We might have been freed from the confines of a mentality dictated by slavish loyalty to the source text, and we might have been rid of the naïve belief in translation as an innocent activity, but we often find ourselves pulled in different directions by conflicting values, and having to make difficult value judgments. The agency of a translator, something of which no postcolonial translator is ignorant, entails responsibilities, the first and foremost being the responsibility to know why one is doing certain things in the first place, and to be articulate about it.
In this presentation, I shall explore the burden and responsibilities of a postcolonial translator and translation scholar by analyzing how positionality and agency function in a specific translation project. In particular, I will give an account of how I initiated and brought to completion a translation project aimed to serve an agenda of cultural activism. The project is the compilation of an anthology of texts (most of which are translated into English for the first time) registering the views, reflections, and thoughts about translation in China, from ancient times to the early twentieth century. Volume one of this anthology, entitled An Anthology of Chinese Discourse on Translation, Volume 1: From Earliest Times to the Buddhist Project, was published in 2006, and the sequel, entitled An Anthology of Chinese Discourse on Translation, Volume 2: From the 13th Century to the Beginning of the 20th Century, is under preparation. Discussion is focused on a single project because it telescopes many of the ethical, ideological and political issues which a postcolonial scholar has to handle. Reflections on this project therefore would teach about larger issues of representation, mediation and intervention that are of common concern to anyone interested in compiling translation anthologies.
What are the excitement, burden and responsibilities of a postcolonial translator and/or translation scholar? The excitement, I believe, lies in a heightened awareness of what we can do and achieve as a translator/translation scholar. We now have a lot more roles to play than the traditional ones of an efficient cross-lingual cross-cultural communicator, or a dispassionate, professional manufacturer of cultural products. We can choose to be a cultural mediator, an innovative image-maker, or an architect-cum-builder of a project of political and or ideological import, to name but just a few of the new possibilities open to us. Of course, possibilities carry with them the burden of choice, of divided loyalties. We might have been freed from the confines of a mentality dictated by slavish loyalty to the source text, and we might have been rid of the naïve belief in translation as an innocent activity, but we often find ourselves pulled in different directions by conflicting values, and having to make difficult value judgments. The agency of a translator, something of which no postcolonial translator is ignorant, entails responsibilities, the first and foremost being the responsibility to know why one is doing certain things in the first place, and to be articulate about it.
In this presentation, I shall explore the burden and responsibilities of a postcolonial translator and translation scholar by analyzing how positionality and agency function in a specific translation project. In particular, I will give an account of how I initiated and brought to completion a translation project aimed to serve an agenda of cultural activism. The project is the compilation of an anthology of texts (most of which are translated into English for the first time) registering the views, reflections, and thoughts about translation in China, from ancient times to the early twentieth century. Volume one of this anthology, entitled An Anthology of Chinese Discourse on Translation, Volume 1: From Earliest Times to the Buddhist Project, was published in 2006, and the sequel, entitled An Anthology of Chinese Discourse on Translation, Volume 2: From the 13th Century to the Beginning of the 20th Century, is under preparation. Discussion is focused on a single project because it telescopes many of the ethical, ideological and political issues which a postcolonial scholar has to handle. Reflections on this project therefore would teach about larger issues of representation, mediation and intervention that are of common concern to anyone interested in compiling translation anthologies.
Patricia Anne Odber de BAUBETA (University of Birmingham, UK)
Treachery and double crossings: when adult fiction is translated for children
This paper will consider the intersection of translation, frequently viewed as a form of betrayal, with crossover literature or works originally written for one set of readers and read by another. The treachery lies in the way the translations are often made, resulting in a version that is ‘faulty, unfaithful and mutilated’, in the words of Carmen Bravo Villasante (1978: 46). The terms ‘cross-writing’ and ‘crossover’ are now taken for granted by theorists of children’s literature:
Cross-writing includes authors who write sometimes for children and sometimes for adults, as well as writers (or intra-textually, narrators) who address more than one age of reader/viewer in the same text (Falconer, 2004: 558)
Cross-writing or dual-audience authors address adults and children in the same work. Daniel Defoe is sometimes offered as an example (because of his Robinson Crusoe, though, not Moll Flanders), while crossover is normally used to describes a book that crosses age boundaries – in either direction.
In the context of the present study, I would argue for the existence of a further category, a kind of double crossing, namely the translation of novels or short stories that belong to an adult canon in one language, for inclusion in children’s anthologies in another. As Sandra Beckett has pointed out:
Novels published for one audience quite often are released later for the other in another context, either another time period or in another country and/or cultural setting. N ovels published for adults in one country are sometimes marketed for a juvenile audience in another, or occasionally, the reverse. (Beckett, 1999: xv)
Here I am thinking particularly of stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan Poe, both of whom appear in volumes of Verbo’s Série 15, published between 1970 and 1985, as well as the respective French, Spanish and French 15s. This paper will examine the way these authors and their works fare, in translation and in collections destined for a juvenile readership.
This paper will consider the intersection of translation, frequently viewed as a form of betrayal, with crossover literature or works originally written for one set of readers and read by another. The treachery lies in the way the translations are often made, resulting in a version that is ‘faulty, unfaithful and mutilated’, in the words of Carmen Bravo Villasante (1978: 46). The terms ‘cross-writing’ and ‘crossover’ are now taken for granted by theorists of children’s literature:
Cross-writing includes authors who write sometimes for children and sometimes for adults, as well as writers (or intra-textually, narrators) who address more than one age of reader/viewer in the same text (Falconer, 2004: 558)
Cross-writing or dual-audience authors address adults and children in the same work. Daniel Defoe is sometimes offered as an example (because of his Robinson Crusoe, though, not Moll Flanders), while crossover is normally used to describes a book that crosses age boundaries – in either direction.
In the context of the present study, I would argue for the existence of a further category, a kind of double crossing, namely the translation of novels or short stories that belong to an adult canon in one language, for inclusion in children’s anthologies in another. As Sandra Beckett has pointed out:
Novels published for one audience quite often are released later for the other in another context, either another time period or in another country and/or cultural setting. N ovels published for adults in one country are sometimes marketed for a juvenile audience in another, or occasionally, the reverse. (Beckett, 1999: xv)
Here I am thinking particularly of stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan Poe, both of whom appear in volumes of Verbo’s Série 15, published between 1970 and 1985, as well as the respective French, Spanish and French 15s. This paper will examine the way these authors and their works fare, in translation and in collections destined for a juvenile readership.
Lieven D’HULST (K.U.Leuven, Belgique)
Formes et fonctions des anthologies et collections de traductions en langue française (1800-1850)
La présentation s’ouvre sur un bref état des lieux sur le statut des notions d’anthologie et de collection. Ensuite, surtout en puisant dans le Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle de Pierre Larousse, nous passerons en revue les principales catégorisations et définitions dix-neuviémistes des deux notions, qu’il convient d’aborder comme des prototypes : elles possèdent un caractère interdisciplinaire et plurifonctionnel qui explique leur variation conceptuelle, leur profusion terminologique ainsi que leur adaptabilité à un faisceau de pratiques traductives. Enfin, nous examinerons les différentes modalités anthologiques des traductions en volume parues en France entre 1810 en 1840 : elles s’adaptent souplement à une pluralité de disciplines, de langues, de genres et d’éditeurs et s’imposent ainsi comme l’une des voies majeures d’acclimatation des traductions à la culture adoptive.
La présentation s’ouvre sur un bref état des lieux sur le statut des notions d’anthologie et de collection. Ensuite, surtout en puisant dans le Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle de Pierre Larousse, nous passerons en revue les principales catégorisations et définitions dix-neuviémistes des deux notions, qu’il convient d’aborder comme des prototypes : elles possèdent un caractère interdisciplinaire et plurifonctionnel qui explique leur variation conceptuelle, leur profusion terminologique ainsi que leur adaptabilité à un faisceau de pratiques traductives. Enfin, nous examinerons les différentes modalités anthologiques des traductions en volume parues en France entre 1810 en 1840 : elles s’adaptent souplement à une pluralité de disciplines, de langues, de genres et d’éditeurs et s’imposent ainsi comme l’une des voies majeures d’acclimatation des traductions à la culture adoptive.
Raquel MERINO ÁLVAREZ (University of the Basque Country, Vitoria, Spain)
Publishers vs. Censors under Franco: a view from the TRACE project
This contribution will analyse the role of publishers and publishing houses under Franco (1938-1975) from the perspective of narrative and theatre catalogues, as compiled and studied by various researches who have worked in the context of the TRACE (Translations Censored) project (www.ehu.es/trace, http://trace.unileon.es/).
Spanish publishers, in this period, had to negotiate all potential publications with censorship authorities and, thus, a huge amount of documents were left as traces of that process of negotiation. In TRACE we have been studying all kinds of information held in censorship archives for a few years now. Every research project and dissertation has been planned and coordinated so that catalogues of translations have been completed and case studies analysed for the whole period under study. Drawing on such studies, the role played by anthologies and collections will be dealt with from a comparative perspective. Questions related to the amount of native vs. translated/imported narrative or to the type of readers targeted by publishing houses will be addressed.
The catalogue of translations of Washington Irving’s Tales of the Alhambra, compiled from censorship files, will serve as a starting point to delve into the multifaceted relationships established between the publishing industry and the authorities.
This contribution will analyse the role of publishers and publishing houses under Franco (1938-1975) from the perspective of narrative and theatre catalogues, as compiled and studied by various researches who have worked in the context of the TRACE (Translations Censored) project (www.ehu.es/trace, http://trace.unileon.es/).
Spanish publishers, in this period, had to negotiate all potential publications with censorship authorities and, thus, a huge amount of documents were left as traces of that process of negotiation. In TRACE we have been studying all kinds of information held in censorship archives for a few years now. Every research project and dissertation has been planned and coordinated so that catalogues of translations have been completed and case studies analysed for the whole period under study. Drawing on such studies, the role played by anthologies and collections will be dealt with from a comparative perspective. Questions related to the amount of native vs. translated/imported narrative or to the type of readers targeted by publishing houses will be addressed.
The catalogue of translations of Washington Irving’s Tales of the Alhambra, compiled from censorship files, will serve as a starting point to delve into the multifaceted relationships established between the publishing industry and the authorities.
Maria Lúcia Diogo Ayres d’ABREU (University of Lisbon Centre for English Studies, Portugal)
Os ramos de flores de Oscar Wilde no jardim português. Uma análise do discurso do material paratextual das obras wildianas traduzidas para língua portuguesa e antologisadas no polissistema literário português.
Vulgarmente, as antologias (etimologicamente, um ramo das melhores flores) são definidas como compilações de textos (ou parte deles) seleccionados segundo determinados critérios (homogeneidade do assunto ou do género literário, as melhores ou mais relevantes obras de um autor ou autores, periodicidade, cronologia, etc.). Mas esta forma editorial e de publicação e de género literário (sejam textos ou excertos narrativos, líricos ou dramáticos) é também uma espécie de discurso cuja função ou funções, além da meramente didáctica, é, de uma forma geral, registar os textos escolhidos e o(s) autor(es), estabelecer/modificar cânones e tentar formar um leitorado.
Uma mais completa compreensão destas funções será obtida através da análise das fontes primárias – os próprios textos e a organização deles – e através da análise do discurso do material paratextual – introduções, prefácios, posfácios, notas e comentários, etc. – o qual pode ou não contextualizar a compilação. O ponto de vista da antologia pode mesmo ser apercebido através da falta de alguns destes instrumentos estruturais.
Embora haja algumas diferenças entre uma antologia e uma colecção (principalmente, no que diz respeito à organização e ao nível da selecção de textos), estas duas categorias históricas podem ser idênticas e algumas colecções podem ser considerada antológicas.
Tal como a antologia, a tradução é um discurso transnacional. O papel desta última é a transferência de uma determinada realidades cultural para uma outra. Tanto a(s) antologia(s) como a tradução reflectem uma determinada ideologia e uma poética. Ambas podem dar-nos informação sobre a recepção crítica, o leitorado de determinado país e a posição (em termos Even-Zoharianos) de um autor num determinado polisistema literário.
O objectivo deste trabalho é cartografar tanto as antologias como as colecções das obras escritas por Oscar Wilde traduzidas para a língua portuguesa e antologisadas no (poli)sistema literário de Portugal e simultaneamente, através de uma análise do discurso do material paratextual destas antologias e/ou colecções, investigar e tentar avaliar a posição (central/ periférica) que este autor e os diferentes géneros de escrita dele ocupam no polisistema literário português.
Vulgarmente, as antologias (etimologicamente, um ramo das melhores flores) são definidas como compilações de textos (ou parte deles) seleccionados segundo determinados critérios (homogeneidade do assunto ou do género literário, as melhores ou mais relevantes obras de um autor ou autores, periodicidade, cronologia, etc.). Mas esta forma editorial e de publicação e de género literário (sejam textos ou excertos narrativos, líricos ou dramáticos) é também uma espécie de discurso cuja função ou funções, além da meramente didáctica, é, de uma forma geral, registar os textos escolhidos e o(s) autor(es), estabelecer/modificar cânones e tentar formar um leitorado.
Uma mais completa compreensão destas funções será obtida através da análise das fontes primárias – os próprios textos e a organização deles – e através da análise do discurso do material paratextual – introduções, prefácios, posfácios, notas e comentários, etc. – o qual pode ou não contextualizar a compilação. O ponto de vista da antologia pode mesmo ser apercebido através da falta de alguns destes instrumentos estruturais.
Embora haja algumas diferenças entre uma antologia e uma colecção (principalmente, no que diz respeito à organização e ao nível da selecção de textos), estas duas categorias históricas podem ser idênticas e algumas colecções podem ser considerada antológicas.
Tal como a antologia, a tradução é um discurso transnacional. O papel desta última é a transferência de uma determinada realidades cultural para uma outra. Tanto a(s) antologia(s) como a tradução reflectem uma determinada ideologia e uma poética. Ambas podem dar-nos informação sobre a recepção crítica, o leitorado de determinado país e a posição (em termos Even-Zoharianos) de um autor num determinado polisistema literário.
O objectivo deste trabalho é cartografar tanto as antologias como as colecções das obras escritas por Oscar Wilde traduzidas para a língua portuguesa e antologisadas no (poli)sistema literário de Portugal e simultaneamente, através de uma análise do discurso do material paratextual destas antologias e/ou colecções, investigar e tentar avaliar a posição (central/ periférica) que este autor e os diferentes géneros de escrita dele ocupam no polisistema literário português.
João AZENHA Junior (Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil)
Do silêncio à eloquência: uma leitura da Poesia alemã traduzida no Brasil.
A antologia Poesia alemã traduzida no Brasil, organizada pelo poeta, escritor, jornalista e tradutor brasileiro Geir Campos (1924-1999) comemora seu cinqüentenário em 2010. Nas palavras de seu organizador, os objetivos principais da antologia são: (1) apresentar ao leitor brasileiro um panorama de poetas alemães traduzidos ao português – dos primeiros “autores desconhecidos” aos poetas da segunda metade do séc. XIX – e (2) “propiciar uma idéia da maneira e do critério dos tradutores brasileiros” (p. 19). Geir Campos, ele próprio tradutor e um dos pioneiros, no Brasil, a sistematizar em obras de caráter reflexivo sua experiência de traduzir, é muito discreto tanto na apresentação dos poetas, quanto em seus comentários sobre “a maneira e o critério” dos tradutores. Com efeito, suas observações restringem-se a uma brevíssima introdução, que ele – utilizando a nomenclatura das artes cênicas – chama de “prólogo” e intitula “Quase uma desculpa”. Contrariamente ao silêncio e à discrição de seu organizador, porém, a antologia, vista em retrospectiva, é uma síntese bastante eloqüente do legado de poetas alemães à literatura brasileira do início do séc. XX; um retrato das atividades profissionais de tradutores a cargo de editoras da época e um locus para o qual convergem esforços vindos de diferentes áreas do conhecimento. A antologia de poemas traduzidos permite identificar, ainda, que a noção de tradução de poesia subjacente à antologia está estruturada em torno da noção de fidelidade: “(...) a fidelidade no traduzir, em que se têm esmerado mais recentemente os profissionais e amadores do ofício, nem sempre foi a pedra de toque para as traduções mais antigas (...); aqui [nesta antologia] se hão de ler ‘traduções’ que antes valem como libérrimas adaptações ou interpretações, nas quais o estilo do tradutor encobre o do traduzido” (p. 20). Contudo, tal noção de fidelidade, a ser entendida como referente ao plano semântico e largamente empregada no Brasil cinqüenta anos atrás, encontra-se em descompasso com o trabalho de outros poetas-tradutores da época. Por exemplo, com o trabalho e o pensamento dos irmãos Haroldo e Augusto de Campos, ligados à Poesia Concreta, movimento literário surgido nos anos de 1950. Para ambos, a primazia ao traduzir deve ser dada à dimensão formal, plástica do poema e a tarefa dos tradutores, neste caso, consiste em “trans-criar” esse nível de significância na língua para a qual traduzem.Vista desta perspectiva, portanto, a antologia evidencia uma cisão, no Brasil daquela época, entre a prática editorial da tradução e o modo como poetas e eruditos brasileiros concebiam e praticavam a tradução.
A antologia Poesia alemã traduzida no Brasil, organizada pelo poeta, escritor, jornalista e tradutor brasileiro Geir Campos (1924-1999) comemora seu cinqüentenário em 2010. Nas palavras de seu organizador, os objetivos principais da antologia são: (1) apresentar ao leitor brasileiro um panorama de poetas alemães traduzidos ao português – dos primeiros “autores desconhecidos” aos poetas da segunda metade do séc. XIX – e (2) “propiciar uma idéia da maneira e do critério dos tradutores brasileiros” (p. 19). Geir Campos, ele próprio tradutor e um dos pioneiros, no Brasil, a sistematizar em obras de caráter reflexivo sua experiência de traduzir, é muito discreto tanto na apresentação dos poetas, quanto em seus comentários sobre “a maneira e o critério” dos tradutores. Com efeito, suas observações restringem-se a uma brevíssima introdução, que ele – utilizando a nomenclatura das artes cênicas – chama de “prólogo” e intitula “Quase uma desculpa”. Contrariamente ao silêncio e à discrição de seu organizador, porém, a antologia, vista em retrospectiva, é uma síntese bastante eloqüente do legado de poetas alemães à literatura brasileira do início do séc. XX; um retrato das atividades profissionais de tradutores a cargo de editoras da época e um locus para o qual convergem esforços vindos de diferentes áreas do conhecimento. A antologia de poemas traduzidos permite identificar, ainda, que a noção de tradução de poesia subjacente à antologia está estruturada em torno da noção de fidelidade: “(...) a fidelidade no traduzir, em que se têm esmerado mais recentemente os profissionais e amadores do ofício, nem sempre foi a pedra de toque para as traduções mais antigas (...); aqui [nesta antologia] se hão de ler ‘traduções’ que antes valem como libérrimas adaptações ou interpretações, nas quais o estilo do tradutor encobre o do traduzido” (p. 20). Contudo, tal noção de fidelidade, a ser entendida como referente ao plano semântico e largamente empregada no Brasil cinqüenta anos atrás, encontra-se em descompasso com o trabalho de outros poetas-tradutores da época. Por exemplo, com o trabalho e o pensamento dos irmãos Haroldo e Augusto de Campos, ligados à Poesia Concreta, movimento literário surgido nos anos de 1950. Para ambos, a primazia ao traduzir deve ser dada à dimensão formal, plástica do poema e a tarefa dos tradutores, neste caso, consiste em “trans-criar” esse nível de significância na língua para a qual traduzem.Vista desta perspectiva, portanto, a antologia evidencia uma cisão, no Brasil daquela época, entre a prática editorial da tradução e o modo como poetas e eruditos brasileiros concebiam e praticavam a tradução.
Ana Maria BERNARDO (Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal)
Poetry Anthologies as Projects of Weltliteratur. A Cultural Translational Approach
When dealing with the external history of translation, one may wonder why Goethe’s ambitious plan of Weltliteratur is so hard to accomplish in certain cultural contexts. Poetry anthologies are a case in point. Although the usually small dimensions of poems allow a greater representativeness of more literatures and more poets of a given culture, there are many other constraints acting upon the anthology design that deserve special attention as to their interpretation (different status of foreign literatures, canonization of poets, cultural dialogue between foreign literatures and the national one, editorial, political and translational constraints that determine the selection of poems in an anthology, among others).
Along the lines of the cultural approach to translated literature developed in Göttingen in the eighties and nineties of the 20th century (Turk 1990 and 1991, Eβmann/ Schöning, 1996, Poltermann, 1992, Kittel 1995, among others) which in turn were partially inspired by Even Zohar’s concept as to the functioning of the literary polysystem (1990), and Toury’s norms (1995), particular attention will be paid to the case of poetry anthologies as examples of configurations of otherness and also as representations of the native culture, as well as of the tensions between national and foreign stereotypes in the construction of an alterity horizon. A statistic method especially designed to analyze anthologies that was developed in Göttingen by Rühling (1996) will also be applied. As illustration of the conjectures ascertained, samples will be drawn from the Portuguese anthology Rosa do Mundo – 2001 Poemas para o futuro (Assírio e Alvim, 2001), with the main focus on poems from the German speaking cultures.
When dealing with the external history of translation, one may wonder why Goethe’s ambitious plan of Weltliteratur is so hard to accomplish in certain cultural contexts. Poetry anthologies are a case in point. Although the usually small dimensions of poems allow a greater representativeness of more literatures and more poets of a given culture, there are many other constraints acting upon the anthology design that deserve special attention as to their interpretation (different status of foreign literatures, canonization of poets, cultural dialogue between foreign literatures and the national one, editorial, political and translational constraints that determine the selection of poems in an anthology, among others).
Along the lines of the cultural approach to translated literature developed in Göttingen in the eighties and nineties of the 20th century (Turk 1990 and 1991, Eβmann/ Schöning, 1996, Poltermann, 1992, Kittel 1995, among others) which in turn were partially inspired by Even Zohar’s concept as to the functioning of the literary polysystem (1990), and Toury’s norms (1995), particular attention will be paid to the case of poetry anthologies as examples of configurations of otherness and also as representations of the native culture, as well as of the tensions between national and foreign stereotypes in the construction of an alterity horizon. A statistic method especially designed to analyze anthologies that was developed in Göttingen by Rühling (1996) will also be applied. As illustration of the conjectures ascertained, samples will be drawn from the Portuguese anthology Rosa do Mundo – 2001 Poemas para o futuro (Assírio e Alvim, 2001), with the main focus on poems from the German speaking cultures.
Carmen CAMUS CAMUS (University of Cantabria, Spain)
The Censored Discourse in Anthologies and Collections of the Far West
This paper analyses the incidence of censorship in the translation of the anthologies and collections of short stories dealing with the Far West. This study derives from a broader research project which, in the ideological context of the Franco regime (1939-1975), investigates the influence of official state censorship and self-censorship on English-Spanish translations of Westerns and their cultural influence on the Spanish polysystem. During Franco’s dictatorship all works in Spain had to be submitted to the Board of Censorship to obtain authorisation for publication or exhibition. The files opened for each individual work are kept at the Administration’s General Archive (AGA), a procedure that has left enough traces to allow the reconstruction of the translation and censorship process to which works were submitted. Although in the western genre the publication of translated works in anthologies and collections was not a conspicuous practice, there is evidence that western narrative also appeared in this format. This paper offers a case study of the incidence of Spanish censorship on the translation process by which some of Ernest Haycox short stories gathered in collections were transferred into the Spanish culture and attempts to unveil if the translation policy for this type of publication was similar to that for the genre as a whole.
The overall incidence of censorship for the genre between 1939 and 1975 was 11.2%, of which 8% corresponded to works that underwent suppressions and 3.2% to works which were denied authorisation. The global study for the genre has revealed the existence of a subtle state policy to use the translations of the western genre to promote a cultural change in accordance with the postulates of Franco’s regime. The cuts and modifications introduced in the Spanish target texts were aimed at reinforcing the ideology of the dictatorship. The study is framed within the Descriptive Studies paradigm and uses the TRACE methodology (TRAnslations CEnsored). Textual analysis proceeds in three phases preliminary, macrotextual and microtextual: the preliminary analysis focuses on the reception of the works in the sociocultural context; the macrotextual study examines suppressions and other modifications made to extensive text segments (chapters and paragraphs); and the microtextual analysis identifies the shifts of meaning in coupled pairs of translation units, and correlates them with pragmatic effects attributed to censorship. This three-phase approach aims at uncovering the norms that underlie the translation process and to establish whether the translators favoured acceptability or adequacy. The paper investigates the transfer process that Ernest Haycox’s short stories underwent in their passage from English into Spanish and compares the incidence of censorship for the works presented in collections with the overall 11.2% for the genre. Analysis at the microtextual level will yield evidence of self-censorship in the translation process and establish whether the shifts of meaning favoured the postulates of the regime. The divergences between the textual manifestations are contrasted and related to the reception of the works in the Spanish culture, and the alterations are studied to determine whether Haycox’s works published in anthologies and collections were censored in order to adapt the final product to the cultural and political expectations of the time.
This paper analyses the incidence of censorship in the translation of the anthologies and collections of short stories dealing with the Far West. This study derives from a broader research project which, in the ideological context of the Franco regime (1939-1975), investigates the influence of official state censorship and self-censorship on English-Spanish translations of Westerns and their cultural influence on the Spanish polysystem. During Franco’s dictatorship all works in Spain had to be submitted to the Board of Censorship to obtain authorisation for publication or exhibition. The files opened for each individual work are kept at the Administration’s General Archive (AGA), a procedure that has left enough traces to allow the reconstruction of the translation and censorship process to which works were submitted. Although in the western genre the publication of translated works in anthologies and collections was not a conspicuous practice, there is evidence that western narrative also appeared in this format. This paper offers a case study of the incidence of Spanish censorship on the translation process by which some of Ernest Haycox short stories gathered in collections were transferred into the Spanish culture and attempts to unveil if the translation policy for this type of publication was similar to that for the genre as a whole.
The overall incidence of censorship for the genre between 1939 and 1975 was 11.2%, of which 8% corresponded to works that underwent suppressions and 3.2% to works which were denied authorisation. The global study for the genre has revealed the existence of a subtle state policy to use the translations of the western genre to promote a cultural change in accordance with the postulates of Franco’s regime. The cuts and modifications introduced in the Spanish target texts were aimed at reinforcing the ideology of the dictatorship. The study is framed within the Descriptive Studies paradigm and uses the TRACE methodology (TRAnslations CEnsored). Textual analysis proceeds in three phases preliminary, macrotextual and microtextual: the preliminary analysis focuses on the reception of the works in the sociocultural context; the macrotextual study examines suppressions and other modifications made to extensive text segments (chapters and paragraphs); and the microtextual analysis identifies the shifts of meaning in coupled pairs of translation units, and correlates them with pragmatic effects attributed to censorship. This three-phase approach aims at uncovering the norms that underlie the translation process and to establish whether the translators favoured acceptability or adequacy. The paper investigates the transfer process that Ernest Haycox’s short stories underwent in their passage from English into Spanish and compares the incidence of censorship for the works presented in collections with the overall 11.2% for the genre. Analysis at the microtextual level will yield evidence of self-censorship in the translation process and establish whether the shifts of meaning favoured the postulates of the regime. The divergences between the textual manifestations are contrasted and related to the reception of the works in the Spanish culture, and the alterations are studied to determine whether Haycox’s works published in anthologies and collections were censored in order to adapt the final product to the cultural and political expectations of the time.
Vanessa CASTAGNA (Università Ca’ Foscari de Veneza, Italy)
Antologias de contos estrangeiros em Portugal nos anos 40 e 50 do século XX
In the 1940s and 1950s, Portugal saw an increase in the number of short story anthologies written by foreign authors and published by houses that played an important role in the popularization of translated literature, among which Portugália Editora stood out.
Consistently with the approach typically used in translation descriptive studies, the aim of this work is to analyze the collections published in Portugal during those twenty years, highlighting the following aspects: the existence of specific series of short story anthologies, the foreign literary texts translated into Portuguese, the selection process, the direct or indirect translation from and into different languages, the presence of introductions or prefaces possibly written by the translators, any additional information given by the titles of the collections, and the impact of the translated collections on the popularization or the creation of a canon.
Secondarily, the analysis focuses on the translator of the Portuguese version of the stories, who was frequently also the editor of the anthology, back in a time when many translators were writers themselves (including renowned poets such as Fernando Pessoa, Cabral do Nascimento, Jorge de Sena).
In the 1940s and 1950s, Portugal saw an increase in the number of short story anthologies written by foreign authors and published by houses that played an important role in the popularization of translated literature, among which Portugália Editora stood out.
Consistently with the approach typically used in translation descriptive studies, the aim of this work is to analyze the collections published in Portugal during those twenty years, highlighting the following aspects: the existence of specific series of short story anthologies, the foreign literary texts translated into Portuguese, the selection process, the direct or indirect translation from and into different languages, the presence of introductions or prefaces possibly written by the translators, any additional information given by the titles of the collections, and the impact of the translated collections on the popularization or the creation of a canon.
Secondarily, the analysis focuses on the translator of the Portuguese version of the stories, who was frequently also the editor of the anthology, back in a time when many translators were writers themselves (including renowned poets such as Fernando Pessoa, Cabral do Nascimento, Jorge de Sena).
Leo Tak-hung CHAN (Lingnan University – Hong Kong, China)
Marketing and Image-Building: The Translated Literature Series and Nobel Prize-Winning Works in Twentieth-Century China
The introduction of Western literature into China via translations is a crucial aspect of book publishing history in the second half of the twentieth century. Looking back at the special manner in which translations were published, it is clear that the effort was far from piecemeal and random: many series of works by Nobel laureates appeared in both the PRC and Taiwan in the latter half of the previous century. Many publishers, including the most prestigious ones like the Shanghai Publishing House and Crown Publishing Co., specialized in these large-scale publication projects. It turned out that much of the Chinese understanding of the West, built on the reading of so-called “world” masterpieces in translation, was derived for decades from the series of prize-winning works that dominated the publishing scene.
The present paper is an attempt to explore the three-way interaction between translation, publishing and reception, capitalizing on recent advances made in translation studies (by Gideon Toury and Johan Heilbron, among others) and book history research (by David Finkelstein, Roger Chartier, etc.). The questions to be examined include: (a) How successful were the translation series in marketing terms, as opposed to their usefulness in promoting a literary interest in Western works? (b) What sort of relevance was understood to underline the published translations, as propounded by the various presses at the time—in the ancillary material being published (like reviews and promotion pamphlets)? (c) What kind of Chinese “image” of Western literature was built up in this manner, in contrast to what might have been intended by members of the Swedish Academy? In other words, how might the reception of the Western literary canon have been different had it not been mediated by all the translation series in question?
The introduction of Western literature into China via translations is a crucial aspect of book publishing history in the second half of the twentieth century. Looking back at the special manner in which translations were published, it is clear that the effort was far from piecemeal and random: many series of works by Nobel laureates appeared in both the PRC and Taiwan in the latter half of the previous century. Many publishers, including the most prestigious ones like the Shanghai Publishing House and Crown Publishing Co., specialized in these large-scale publication projects. It turned out that much of the Chinese understanding of the West, built on the reading of so-called “world” masterpieces in translation, was derived for decades from the series of prize-winning works that dominated the publishing scene.
The present paper is an attempt to explore the three-way interaction between translation, publishing and reception, capitalizing on recent advances made in translation studies (by Gideon Toury and Johan Heilbron, among others) and book history research (by David Finkelstein, Roger Chartier, etc.). The questions to be examined include: (a) How successful were the translation series in marketing terms, as opposed to their usefulness in promoting a literary interest in Western works? (b) What sort of relevance was understood to underline the published translations, as propounded by the various presses at the time—in the ancillary material being published (like reviews and promotion pamphlets)? (c) What kind of Chinese “image” of Western literature was built up in this manner, in contrast to what might have been intended by members of the Swedish Academy? In other words, how might the reception of the Western literary canon have been different had it not been mediated by all the translation series in question?
Jeffrey CHILDS (Universidade Aberta, Portugal)
Developing a Poetry Collection in a Virtual Forum: A Case Study
Begun in 2008, the Poetic Strands project has sought to bring together two interrelated cultural processes which tend, nonetheless, to be carried out independently from each other: the conducting of an on-line poetry translation workshop and the preparation of a bilingual poetry collection, in this case centered on the work of the American poet Mark Strand. The involvement of both the Open University of Portugal and the University of Lisbon has brought to the project a range of educational contexts and technological possibilities, each of which has left its mark on the identity of the project. In this paper, I propose to look specifically at what the nature of this project has meant in terms of the definition of a traditional print-oriented poetry collection. How, for instance, has this traditional aim shaped the nature of the collaborative work carried out in a virtual forum? Conversely, what concerns and challenges has the collaborative nature of this project brought to the fore, and what strategies might be employed to deal with these? I will attempt to trace the emergence of these and other theoretical questions from their initial appearance as tensions or problems in highly practical, transaction‑governed contexts.
Begun in 2008, the Poetic Strands project has sought to bring together two interrelated cultural processes which tend, nonetheless, to be carried out independently from each other: the conducting of an on-line poetry translation workshop and the preparation of a bilingual poetry collection, in this case centered on the work of the American poet Mark Strand. The involvement of both the Open University of Portugal and the University of Lisbon has brought to the project a range of educational contexts and technological possibilities, each of which has left its mark on the identity of the project. In this paper, I propose to look specifically at what the nature of this project has meant in terms of the definition of a traditional print-oriented poetry collection. How, for instance, has this traditional aim shaped the nature of the collaborative work carried out in a virtual forum? Conversely, what concerns and challenges has the collaborative nature of this project brought to the fore, and what strategies might be employed to deal with these? I will attempt to trace the emergence of these and other theoretical questions from their initial appearance as tensions or problems in highly practical, transaction‑governed contexts.
António FOURNIER (University of Turin) & Thierry Proença dos SANTOS (University of Madeira)
Anthologies, translation and the search for overseas recognition – the Madeiran case
Among models from the past and today’s proposals, anthology works, in the pereniality of the ephemeral, as the possible ecology of memory or the prospection of soil in order to estimate its future fertility. Anthology, a repository of a collective memory and/or a bet on a new horizon of expectations, enables a literature to exist for its potential public. It thus relates literary creation to the semiotic community to which it belongs, redefining and recognising the contours of this territory, or suggesting the scenography of works to come, proposing itself as an open dialogue with the Other.
This last dialogue also includes the translation into other prestigious languages-cultures. Voluntarism and the quality of the operation of mediation are determining factors in the aesthetic and cultural enhancement of the proposed corpus, contributing towards its diffusion abroad, the conscious awareness of its reality and its internal legitimization. The Madeiran literary case will be specifically analysed, taking into account recent anthological experiences in the translation of short-stories into French and Italian.
Among models from the past and today’s proposals, anthology works, in the pereniality of the ephemeral, as the possible ecology of memory or the prospection of soil in order to estimate its future fertility. Anthology, a repository of a collective memory and/or a bet on a new horizon of expectations, enables a literature to exist for its potential public. It thus relates literary creation to the semiotic community to which it belongs, redefining and recognising the contours of this territory, or suggesting the scenography of works to come, proposing itself as an open dialogue with the Other.
This last dialogue also includes the translation into other prestigious languages-cultures. Voluntarism and the quality of the operation of mediation are determining factors in the aesthetic and cultural enhancement of the proposed corpus, contributing towards its diffusion abroad, the conscious awareness of its reality and its internal legitimization. The Madeiran literary case will be specifically analysed, taking into account recent anthological experiences in the translation of short-stories into French and Italian.
Margarida Vale de GATO (University of Lisbon Centre for English Studies, Portugal)
Upgrading the sebenta: the collaborative anthology in the literary translation course
Any set of texts used for translation training will end up displaying criteria that have been, to a greater of lesser extent, willfully introduced and that may be regarded as indicators of an anthological intention, albeit almost solely guided by didactic purposes – dealing with different types of text, varying degrees of difficulty, familiarity with literary trends, or illustration of the diversity of tone and register. In view of the indelible link between the anthology and the textbook, or even the stack of miscellaneous literature papers that the students are advised to photocopy and take to class (the sebenta, a popular compendium among the copyright outlaws of the Portuguese academia), it seems expedient to select literary texts for the translation classrooms within a pre-designed anthological context. In other words, it would be wise for the teacher to realize and try to enforce anthological motivations in the selection of texts. Such planning might be supplemented by the engagement of the very students in setting up the type and scope of the anthology, providing them with an opportunity for collaborative work which until very recently would have been unthinkable for the self-conscious literary translator, but more and more this represents an asset that the marketplace associates with “transference skills” – encouraging a disposition towards teamwork, a necessary talent for the editing of anthologies.
In this paper, I will present some examples from my recent experience in literary translation training, where open discussion in class and online forums (http://traduzirliteratura.blogspot.com/) prepares the ground for a collective publication envisaged as a pre-professional portfolio. I shall also present my current efforts to find ways of co-managing a more ambitious translation and editing e-learning platform, where students from different courses or institutions may engage in the production of translation anthologies that will fill some gaps or niches in the literary system while helping students develop their translating competence more efficiently.
Finally, I wish to discuss the kinds of anthologizing norms that would best suit this latter objective, considering that the thematic anthology is more suitable for the inclusion of different types of texts and the encouragement of intertextuality awareness, while anthologies devoted to a particular literary period, movement or group of authors are more marketable or desired by the community.
Any set of texts used for translation training will end up displaying criteria that have been, to a greater of lesser extent, willfully introduced and that may be regarded as indicators of an anthological intention, albeit almost solely guided by didactic purposes – dealing with different types of text, varying degrees of difficulty, familiarity with literary trends, or illustration of the diversity of tone and register. In view of the indelible link between the anthology and the textbook, or even the stack of miscellaneous literature papers that the students are advised to photocopy and take to class (the sebenta, a popular compendium among the copyright outlaws of the Portuguese academia), it seems expedient to select literary texts for the translation classrooms within a pre-designed anthological context. In other words, it would be wise for the teacher to realize and try to enforce anthological motivations in the selection of texts. Such planning might be supplemented by the engagement of the very students in setting up the type and scope of the anthology, providing them with an opportunity for collaborative work which until very recently would have been unthinkable for the self-conscious literary translator, but more and more this represents an asset that the marketplace associates with “transference skills” – encouraging a disposition towards teamwork, a necessary talent for the editing of anthologies.
In this paper, I will present some examples from my recent experience in literary translation training, where open discussion in class and online forums (http://traduzirliteratura.blogspot.com/) prepares the ground for a collective publication envisaged as a pre-professional portfolio. I shall also present my current efforts to find ways of co-managing a more ambitious translation and editing e-learning platform, where students from different courses or institutions may engage in the production of translation anthologies that will fill some gaps or niches in the literary system while helping students develop their translating competence more efficiently.
Finally, I wish to discuss the kinds of anthologizing norms that would best suit this latter objective, considering that the thematic anthology is more suitable for the inclusion of different types of texts and the encouragement of intertextuality awareness, while anthologies devoted to a particular literary period, movement or group of authors are more marketable or desired by the community.
Zsófia GOMBÁR (University of Aveiro, Portugal)
Anthologies of British Literature in Portugal and Hungary between 1949 and 1974
The aim of the present paper is to compare anthologies of British literature published in the two countries when both lived under different forms of dictatorship simultaneously. The initial year of the investigated time span marks the Communists’ final takeover of the Hungarian book industry, while the closing year denotes the end of the rightist dictatorial regime in Portugal. The paper contrasts the number of anthologies as well as the lists of selected authors and their works. Furthermore, it also attempts to provide possible explanations as to the two regimes’ different selection criteria with regard to certain British authors in the light of contemporaneous literary-critical discourses.
The aim of the present paper is to compare anthologies of British literature published in the two countries when both lived under different forms of dictatorship simultaneously. The initial year of the investigated time span marks the Communists’ final takeover of the Hungarian book industry, while the closing year denotes the end of the rightist dictatorial regime in Portugal. The paper contrasts the number of anthologies as well as the lists of selected authors and their works. Furthermore, it also attempts to provide possible explanations as to the two regimes’ different selection criteria with regard to certain British authors in the light of contemporaneous literary-critical discourses.
Cristina GÓMEZ CASTRO (Universidad de Cantabria, Spain)
The Reception of Anthologies of Science Fiction and Horror & Terror Tales in the Last Years of Francoist Spain: Censoring Aliens and Monsters
The last years of Francoist dictatorship in Spain (1970s) were a period of political change and of a slow evolution in the legislation concerning the censorship that was exerted over any cultural product during that time. Regarding the publishing industry, the kind of literature dominating the market at the time was mainly the one known as mass literature and a considerable portion of it was integrated by the translation of anthologies of science fiction narratives and horror and terror tales coming from North America. These had originally been published there as pulps with titles such as Weird Tales or Terror Tales, something which makes difficult today to trace the English version from which they were translated due to the inclusion in these magazines of different tales from different authors. When these anthologies entered the system of censorship they were closely watched regarding aspects such as sexual morals and language, two of the most controversial issues at the time of the dictatorship. Some of them encountered problems because of their depiction of sexually charged scenes or immoral attitudes. In this presentation, a brief depiction of the kind of anthological material translated at the time will be offered, together with the examination of some of these files with a descriptive aim in mind. Censored or not, authorized or not, the principal objective of the publishers of these kinds of anthologies at the time was achieved since thanks to them both genres became well known in the country and encouraged some Spanish writers to engage in the production of similar material in a process of pseudotranslation that confirms their importance in the recipient culture.
The last years of Francoist dictatorship in Spain (1970s) were a period of political change and of a slow evolution in the legislation concerning the censorship that was exerted over any cultural product during that time. Regarding the publishing industry, the kind of literature dominating the market at the time was mainly the one known as mass literature and a considerable portion of it was integrated by the translation of anthologies of science fiction narratives and horror and terror tales coming from North America. These had originally been published there as pulps with titles such as Weird Tales or Terror Tales, something which makes difficult today to trace the English version from which they were translated due to the inclusion in these magazines of different tales from different authors. When these anthologies entered the system of censorship they were closely watched regarding aspects such as sexual morals and language, two of the most controversial issues at the time of the dictatorship. Some of them encountered problems because of their depiction of sexually charged scenes or immoral attitudes. In this presentation, a brief depiction of the kind of anthological material translated at the time will be offered, together with the examination of some of these files with a descriptive aim in mind. Censored or not, authorized or not, the principal objective of the publishers of these kinds of anthologies at the time was achieved since thanks to them both genres became well known in the country and encouraged some Spanish writers to engage in the production of similar material in a process of pseudotranslation that confirms their importance in the recipient culture.
Mohammad REZA HASHEMI & Maziyar FARIDI (Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran)
Critical Translation Anthologies and the Case of Literary Translation in Iran
A large number of literary publications in Iran are translations of foreign literatures and it is quite justifiable to claim that these translations have played a pivotal role in the formation of Persian contemporary literary polysystem especially Persian prose fiction. Yet, this influence more often than not has been taken for granted and little research has been particularly carried out with regard to the history of literary translation in Iran. This study sets out to look at the significance of Critical Translation Anthologies in the literary and translation studies in Iran. A Critical Translation Anthology (CTA), as defined in this study, is a kind of anthology that not only includes excerpts from translations in a specific historical period, but also contains a critical survey of these translations with respect to their qualities as well as their influence upon the literary polysystem of the target culture. Production of such anthologies requires a careful investigation of a number of questions some of which are listed below:
1. What are the criteria for selecting a translation and excluding another? In other words, if a canon of literary translations is to be established, what literary and socio-cultural considerations should be taken into account?
2. What historical periods should be selected?
3. What are the major criteria for the assessment of the quality of the selected translations in CTAs?
4. What are the criteria for measuring the influence of a group of translated works on the literary traditions of the target language?
5. What is a logical order for the arrangement of selected excerpts in CTAs?
These are but a few primary questions that may occur to the scholars while working on an anthology of translation. The answers to these questions are to a great extent culture bound and as a result in this study the whole issue is looked at from the standpoint of the literary and translation traditions of Iran.
A prerequisite for CTAs is a unified history of literary translation. Therefore, in order to find appropriate criteria for the selection of translated works, in the first step, a research project was set off on the history of literary translation in Iran (from Constitutional Revolution in 1905 to 2008). Next, a general outline of the canon of literary translation is drawn, followed by a discussion of the impact of the translation system upon Persian literary polysystem in specific historical periods. Once the canonical state of literary translations is investigated, by means of comparing the canonized translations, some criteria for quality assessment of these works are obtained. In this way, the aim of generating a basis for CTAs in Iran is achieved. In a country where a great deal of its literary publications is devoted to translations, this study especially can have significant implications for the theories of canon formation, literary history and Comparative Literature.
A large number of literary publications in Iran are translations of foreign literatures and it is quite justifiable to claim that these translations have played a pivotal role in the formation of Persian contemporary literary polysystem especially Persian prose fiction. Yet, this influence more often than not has been taken for granted and little research has been particularly carried out with regard to the history of literary translation in Iran. This study sets out to look at the significance of Critical Translation Anthologies in the literary and translation studies in Iran. A Critical Translation Anthology (CTA), as defined in this study, is a kind of anthology that not only includes excerpts from translations in a specific historical period, but also contains a critical survey of these translations with respect to their qualities as well as their influence upon the literary polysystem of the target culture. Production of such anthologies requires a careful investigation of a number of questions some of which are listed below:
1. What are the criteria for selecting a translation and excluding another? In other words, if a canon of literary translations is to be established, what literary and socio-cultural considerations should be taken into account?
2. What historical periods should be selected?
3. What are the major criteria for the assessment of the quality of the selected translations in CTAs?
4. What are the criteria for measuring the influence of a group of translated works on the literary traditions of the target language?
5. What is a logical order for the arrangement of selected excerpts in CTAs?
These are but a few primary questions that may occur to the scholars while working on an anthology of translation. The answers to these questions are to a great extent culture bound and as a result in this study the whole issue is looked at from the standpoint of the literary and translation traditions of Iran.
A prerequisite for CTAs is a unified history of literary translation. Therefore, in order to find appropriate criteria for the selection of translated works, in the first step, a research project was set off on the history of literary translation in Iran (from Constitutional Revolution in 1905 to 2008). Next, a general outline of the canon of literary translation is drawn, followed by a discussion of the impact of the translation system upon Persian literary polysystem in specific historical periods. Once the canonical state of literary translations is investigated, by means of comparing the canonized translations, some criteria for quality assessment of these works are obtained. In this way, the aim of generating a basis for CTAs in Iran is achieved. In a country where a great deal of its literary publications is devoted to translations, this study especially can have significant implications for the theories of canon formation, literary history and Comparative Literature.
Zsuzsa HETÉNYI (ELTE University, Budapest, Hungary)
From „Russian obligatory” to „Russian unnecessary” – The rise and fall of an athology initiative
There was no modern history of Russian literature in Hungary after the WWII until the fall of the communist regime. Some outstanding scholars took up the task of writing and editing it in two volumes, (1999, literature until 1940) and (2002, literature after 1940) at the Universitas branch of Hungary’s largest state-owned publishing house for text- and coursebooks Tankönyvkiadó. The 1st volume was accompanied by a 700-page anthology of texts, while the 2nd volume’s anthology – a result of the 10-year work of many, also on 700 pages, with 100 mostly non-translated (because prohibited in the USSR) texts of authors, victims of censorship – was not published. A series of circumstances, social, legal, financial as well as professional, emerged as obstacles, and finally only a 240-page book appeared in 100 copies in the private publication of the editor (myself), who tells the adventurous story of this „failure”.
There was no modern history of Russian literature in Hungary after the WWII until the fall of the communist regime. Some outstanding scholars took up the task of writing and editing it in two volumes, (1999, literature until 1940) and (2002, literature after 1940) at the Universitas branch of Hungary’s largest state-owned publishing house for text- and coursebooks Tankönyvkiadó. The 1st volume was accompanied by a 700-page anthology of texts, while the 2nd volume’s anthology – a result of the 10-year work of many, also on 700 pages, with 100 mostly non-translated (because prohibited in the USSR) texts of authors, victims of censorship – was not published. A series of circumstances, social, legal, financial as well as professional, emerged as obstacles, and finally only a 240-page book appeared in 100 copies in the private publication of the editor (myself), who tells the adventurous story of this „failure”.
Christine LOMBEZ (Université de Nantes, France)
Translating German Poetry in French during the Occupation (1940-44): the Anthology of R. Lasne and G. Rabuse (1943)
How should an anthology of texts written in the language of the occupier be assembled in the occupied country? According to which literary criteria? For which readers?
This presentation will address The Bilingual Anthology of German Poetry. From its beginnings until the present by R. Lasne and G. Rabuse, published in two volumes in Paris by Stock in 1943 with a preface by Karl Epting (director of the German Institute of Paris and friend of Céline), offering a valuable account of Franco-German literary relations during the Occupation. The 1943 edition will also be examined in relation to the later 1967 “version” of this same anthology that had been meticulously expurgated.
How should an anthology of texts written in the language of the occupier be assembled in the occupied country? According to which literary criteria? For which readers?
This presentation will address The Bilingual Anthology of German Poetry. From its beginnings until the present by R. Lasne and G. Rabuse, published in two volumes in Paris by Stock in 1943 with a preface by Karl Epting (director of the German Institute of Paris and friend of Céline), offering a valuable account of Franco-German literary relations during the Occupation. The 1943 edition will also be examined in relation to the later 1967 “version” of this same anthology that had been meticulously expurgated.
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