1st Edition
Perspectives on Literature and Translation Creation, Circulation, Reception
This volume explores the relationship between literature and translation from three perspectives: the creative dimensions of the translation process; the way texts circulate between languages; and the way texts are received in translation by new audiences. The distinctiveness of the volume lies in the fact that it considers these fundamental aspects of literary translation together and in terms of their interconnections. Contributors examine a wide variety of texts, including world classics, poetry, genre fiction, transnational literature, and life writing from around the world. Both theoretical and empirical issues are covered, with some contributors approaching the topic as practitioners of literary translation, and others writing from within the academy.
Introduction Brian Nelson and Brigid Maher Part 1: Creation: Literature and Translation in the Looking Glass 1. The Art of Hearing the Voice Julie Rose 2. Memory, War and Translation: Mercè Rodoreda’s In Diamond Square Peter Bush 3. Szymek from the Village and Joe from Missouri: Problems of Voice in Translating Wiesław Myśliwski’s Stone Upon Stone Bill Johnston 4. Understanding Through Translation: Rilke’s New Poems Luke Fischer 5. Cesare De Marchi and the Author-Translator Dilemma Luigi Gussago Part 2: Circulation: Texts and Their Transmission 6. Inculturation as Elephant: On Translation and the Spread of Literary Modernity Anthony Pym 7. Rainer Maria Rilke in Lucian Blaga’s Translations from English Sean Cotter 8. Rabindranath Tagore and ‘World Literature’ Mridula Nath Chakraborty 9. Buzzati’s French Connection: Translation as a Catalyst in a Literary Career Felix Siddell 10. A Crook’s Tour: Translation, Pseudotranslation and Foreignness in Anglo-Italian Crime Fiction Brigid Maher Part 3: Reception: Texts and Their Readers 11. Of Migrants and Working Men: How Pietro di Donato’s Christ in Concrete Travelled Between the US and Italy Through Translation Loredana Polezzi 12. Terra Australis Incognita Even Now? The Reception of Australian Literature in Italian Translation Rita Wilson 13. Prizing Translation: Book Awards and Literary Translation Sally-Ann Spencer 14. Footnotes sans Frontières: Translation and Textual Scholarship Esther Allen
Biography
Brian Nelson is Professor Emeritus of French Studies and Translation Studies at Monash University, Melbourne, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He is well known for his critical studies and translations of the novels of Emile Zola.
Brigid Maher is Lecturer in Italian Studies at La Trobe University. She is the author of Recreation and Style: Translating Humour in Italian and English Literature (Benjamins) and co-editor of Words, Images and Performances in Translation (Continuum) and The AALITRA Review. She has translated novels by Milena Agus and Nicola Lagioia.
"With a focus on the nature and the cultural significance of literary translation, this fascinating collection of essays incisively analyzes the creation, circulation and reception of translated texts. Contributions from both practitioners and scholars here offer a range of perspectives and case studies that explore how writing and translation intersect, how and why texts are disseminated across linguistic and other borders, and what forms of gate-keeping control access to the marketplace. Like translation itself, this volume helpfully opens up new vistas on texts and literary systems." - Valerie Henitiuk, Director, British Centre for Literary Translation
"This work is at the cutting edge of literary translation research. Two aspects are particularly appealing. One is hearing the translator’s reflexive voice speaking about his/her creative processes. The other is the way that it explores ‘world literature’ and international literary flows, via case studies that draw fascinating conclusions beyond their time, text and place." --Francis R. Jones, Newcastle University, UK
