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The Scandals of Translation

Towards an Ethics of Difference

By Lawrence Venuti

Published August 6th 1998 by Routledge – 224 pages

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Description

Translation is stigmatized as a form of writing, discouraged by copyright law, deprecated by the academy, exploited by publishers and corporations, governments and religious organizations.

Lawrence Venuti exposes what he refers to as the 'scandals of translation' by looking at the relationship between translation and those bodies - corporations, governments, religious organizations, publishers - who need the work of the translator yet marginalize it when it threatens their cultural values.

Venuti illustrates his arguments with a wealth of translations from The Bible, the works of Homer, Plato and Wittgenstein, Japanese and West African novels, advertisements and business journalism.

Reviews

'The strength of Venuti's writing comes from his tenacity. Never contents to simply throw out ideas or engage in speculation, Venuti pursues complex and sensitive issues through detailed discussion of examples.'

'The book is well put together, and the different topics treated in each chapter build on one another to give the reader a better overall picture of the author's thesis. The book's well-defined structure and index make the content available to researchers in related fields as well as to translators. A comprehensive, up-to-date viewpoint on diverse issues related to ethics in translation. Highly recommended for graduate students, faculty and professional translators.' - Choice, 4/99

'Scandals of Translation is intelligent, consistently provocative, and even includes moments of indignant humour.' - - James Marcus, writing for Amazon.com

'Venuti supports most of his ideas with practical examples. He shows how translation can twist any work into an expression of domestic values. His range of reference is impressively wide. He conveys large amounts of detail with a pleasant urgency.' - The New York Times Book Review

Contents

Introduction 1. Heterogeneity 2. Authorship 3. Copyright 4. The Formation of Cultural Identites 5. The Pedagogy of Literature 6. Philosophy 7. The Bestseller 8. Globalization Bibliography. Index.

Name: The Scandals of Translation: Towards an Ethics of Difference (Paperback) – Routledge 
Description: By Lawrence Venuti. Translation is stigmatized as a form of writing, discouraged by copyright law, deprecated by the academy, exploited by publishers and corporations, governments and religious organizations.Lawrence Venuti exposes what he refers to as the...
Categories: Language & Linguistics, Translation