1st Edition

From St Jerome to Hypertext Translation in Theory and Practice

By Per Qvale Copyright 2004
302 Pages
by Routledge

302 Pages
by Routledge

302 Pages
by Routledge

From St. Jerome to Hypertext is an ambitious attempt to chart the terrain of literary translation - its history, theory and practice. It examines translation from linguistic, extralinguistic and philosophical perspectives and poses a range of important questions, including: the extent to which a linguistically creative original text should be reduced to fit existing norms in translation;... Read more

From St. Jerome to Hypertext: Contents

Foreword


Introduction


Chapter I: The Science of Translation and Translation Studies

 

A. Translation theory in a historical light
B. Light touches on modern translation theory
C. Translation studies enlightened by theories of science
D. Translation practice

 

Chapter II: The Author and the Translator


A. The author's creativity and that of the translator

    The voice in the reader's ear

    Modest or manipulative?

    Authorial voice or authorial vision?

    Sex change and polygamy
B. The translator's role and that of the author

    The translation is an original. The original is a translation

    Translating oneself

    The author as translator

    Courting an audience
C. The writing between the lines and other extralinguistic phenomena

    The semiotic context

    Bold speech and slanted writing
D. The author as a reference work


Chapter III: Word Play and Language Games


A. Procrustes as a translator

    The author stretches the translator bends

    Structural obstacles

    Lexical material

    Translationese

    Idioms and metaphors
B. The translator as Münchhausen

    Illusion and contradiction or the art of the impossible

    Münchhausen's feat

    Strategy or the way it happens?

    Ambiguities, obscurities and irritants

    Games and their limits


Chapter IV: Syntax A Chapter All of Its Own


A. Syntax and thought
B. Parataxis, hypotaxis and syntactic gaps
C. Dreams, thoughts, quanta and morphic fields
D. Sound-image-sign-writing

 

Chapter V: Hot Tin Roofs, Squeaking Snow and Other Cultural Biotopes


A. Concepts

    Metaphor and thought

    Linguistic determinism conceptual differences
B. Biblical concepts and translatorial intervention
C. Cultural correlates and co-ordinates

    National character, the disposition of the populus, and tone

    All culture is borrowed

    Climate, food and clothing

    The fool on the hill and other institutions

    What's in a name?

    Diachronic perspective


Chapter VI: What It's All About


A. Understanding and Meaning

    Meaning and significance

    Interpretation

    The hermeneutic circle and spiral
B. Equivalence a meaningless concept?


Chapter VII: The Process of Translation Mysterium Conjuntionis


A. Hunting for the black box
B. Can the process be conceptualised?
C. Headaches and gut feelings
D. Introspection and thinking aloud
E. From eraser to spell checker
F. From hand-writing to hypertext

 

Non-Fiction Bibliography

Fiction Bibliography

Name Index

Subject Index

Biography

Per Qvale has a Ph.D. in literature from the University of Oslo and now works as a literary translator. He has translated nearly a 100 books, both fiction and non-fiction, into Norwegian from English, German and Swedish.

...an impressive achievement ... can serve both as a reference book for the student of translation and as a handbook for practising translators. (Janet Garton, In Other Words. The Journal for Literary Translators)

... will undoubtedly open up new areas of research, point to new directions and fields of investigation, and provide a basis for future studies, especially interdiscplinary studies. (Christina Refsum, Vinduet. Journal of Literature)