MODELS OF TRANSLATION IN ANGLO-‐SAXON ENGLAND A Dissertation PDF
Preview MODELS OF TRANSLATION IN ANGLO-‐SAXON ENGLAND A Dissertation
ON GEWRITUM CYTHATH: MODELS OF TRANSLATION IN ANGLO-‐SAXON ENGLAND A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Benjamin Daniel Weber May 2012 © 2012 Benjamin Daniel Weber ON GEWRITUM CYTHATH: MODELS OF TRANSLATION IN ANGLO-‐SAXON ENGLAND Benjamin Daniel Weber, Ph.D. Cornell University 2012 This dissertation argues for a new understanding of translation in Anglo-‐ Saxon England, based on careful studies of poetry translated from Latin into Old English. The traditional approach to Anglo-‐Saxon translation focuses on the educational reforms of Alfred the Great, obscuring to some extent the variety and sophistication of Anglo-‐Saxon responses to Latin literature. This project demonstrates that variety through close studies of four Old English texts: the Phoenix, Exeter Book riddles 35 and 40, the Meters of Boethius, and Judgment Day II. These studies, which occupy the individual chapters of the dissertation, show that the Alfredian approach was merely one among many distinct varieties of translation practiced during the Anglo-‐Saxon period. This project concludes by indicating some directions in which scholars might focus their efforts to better understand the dynamic relationship of Old English to Latin revealed in Anglo-‐ Saxon practices of translation. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Benjamin D. Weber began his Ph.D. in Medieval Studies at Cornell in 2006, after earning a Bachelor's Degree in English from Princeton University in 2004 and participating in a two-‐year postbaccalaureate program at Columbia University from 2004-‐2006. He continued to pursue his interest in English and Latin literature through his Ph.D., focusing on Old English literature with minor fields in Middle English and Medieval Latin literature. His particular interests within the field of medieval literature include translation, etymology and the use of vernacular literature to negotiate relationships to figures of authority. His academic life has been supported unfailingly by his wife Naomi, and his free time made immeasureably richer by the birth of his daughter Melanie in February of 2011. ii i To my best girls, Naomi and Melanie iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Even with a project such as this, nominally the work of a single person, there are a great many people to thank, without whose help it likely would have never been completed. First are my committee members, Tom, Andy and Samantha, whose constant guidance, good humor and willingness to help have carried me since I began my Ph.D. I would also like to thank Matt Spears, Jessica Streit, and Danielle Wu for their friendship, support and encouragement. My family deserves no less thanks, especially Naomi, who was bold enough to marry a scholar, and whose hard work and unconditional love have made the last few years of my degree much less stressful and less lonely than they otherwise would have been. Finally, sincere thanks are due to Sifu Sharif Bey and my classmates at Syracuse Kung Fu, for giving me a place where I didn't have to try to be smart all the time. There are countless others, classmates and colleagues, who deserve a spot on this page, but whose contributions must be ommitted for reasons of space. To all them, and to everyone else who has ever been there for me, I give my deepest thanks. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: Alfred's Shadow 1 Chapter 1: Non-‐Alfredian Exegesis in the 18 Old English Phoenix Chapter 2: Translation and Intellectual 56 Culture in Exeter Riddles 35 and 40 Chapter 3: Theory into Practice: the 100 Alfredian Meters of Boethius Chapter 4: Judgment Day II and the 145 Poetics of Confession Conclusion: Cultures of Translation 186 Works Cited 194 v i LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ASE Anglo-Saxon England ASPR Anglo-‐Saxon Poetic Records, ed. Krapp and Dobbie, 1931-‐53. CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. Vienna: Hoelder, Pichler, Tempsky, 1886-‐ DCP De Consolatione Philosophiae, ed. Moreschini. Leipzig: K.G. Sauer Verlag, 2000. De Ave De Ave Phoenice, ed. Brandt and Laubmann. CSEL xxvii. Vienna, 1892. De Die De Die Iudicii, ed. Caie. The Old English Poem 'Judgement Day II': a Critical Edition with Editions of 'De die iudicii' and the Hatton 113 Homily 'Be domes daege'. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2000. JDII Judgment Day II, ed. Caie. The Old English Poem 'Judgement Day II': a Critical Edition with Editions of 'De die iudicii' and the Hatton 113 Homily 'Be domes daege'. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2000. RSB Regula Sancti Benedicti, ed. Fry. The Rule of St. Benedict in Latin and English with notes and thematic index. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1981. v ii Introduction: Alfred's Shadow Alfred the Great, the celebrated king of Wessex who died in 899, casts a long shadow over Anglo-‐Saxon literary history. According to Robert Stanton, "he helped to define an English literary culture at a time when Latin was the dominant high-‐ status language" (Stanton, "Alfred" 116). Stanton sees Alfred's educational reforms, conceived and carried out in spite of the constant threat of Viking invasion, as the precondition for the efflorescence of literary production that took place in tenth and eleventh-‐century England. Stanton argues that case most obviously when he states that "English as a literary language was born out of a program of translation, and defined itself largely in terms of differences between itself and the Latin language" (Stanton, "(M)other Tongue" 33-‐4). Nicole Discenza, author of a recent book on Alfred's translation of Boethius, supports Stanton's assessment when she cites him in support of her claim that "Alfred started a process of legitimation...that would not be complete for many centuries" (Discenza 4). Discenza and Stanton thus both place Alfred at the forefront of translation in Anglo-‐Saxon England, figuring him as the first great translator who appropriated the authority of Latin literature for the vernacular, thus authorizing the use of English for high-‐status literature during and after his reign. There is some truth to that claim. Alfred's program of translation was ambitious, designed to address a precipitous decline in Latin learning Alfred claims 1 took place during the ninth century.1 Alfred's response to that decline places him squarely in the middle of Discenza and Stanton's narrative of literary history in Anglo-‐Saxon England, a story which begins with the arrival of Augustine of Canterbury and his missionaries from Rome at the end of the sixth century. When they arrived, Augustine and his followers brought the Latin language and new technologies of writing and bookmaking with them. Though historical evidence from that period is scarce, it seems that the Anglo-‐Saxons embraced literacy and the new religion with equal fervor: 100 years after the missionaries had arrived, Bede was nearing the completion of his Ecclesiastical History, a monument of Latin learning and historical scholarship. Bede, though he may have been the greatest scholar in early England, was hardly the only one. The school of Theodore and Hadrian at Canterbury flourished during that period, and the famous churchman and poet Aldhelm began his career during Bede's lifetime. The celebrated twelfth-‐century historian William of Malmesbury paints a colorful picture of seventh-‐century English learning in his Gesta Pontificum: Populum eo tempore semibarbarum, parum divinis sermonibus intentum, statim cantatis missis domos cursitare solitum. Ideo sanctum virum, super pontem qui rura et urbem continuat, abeuntibus se opposuisse obicem, quasi artem cantitandi professum. Eo plusquam semel facto, plebis favorem et concursum emeritum. Hoc commento sensim inter ludicra verbis scripturarum insertis, cives ad sanitatem reduxisse; qui si severe et cum excommunicatione agendum putasset, profecto profecisset nichil (V.190) The people in that time were half-‐barbarian, scarcely intent on the divine services, accustomed to run home immediately after the mass had been sung. So that holy 1 See Stanton, "King Alfred" 116-‐17 for Alfred's narrative of decline, c.f. Morrish, who argues that Alfred exaggerated the decay of English learning for political reasons. 2
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