The Translation Studies Reader

561 Pages·2021·9.059 MB·English

by  Lawrence Venuti

The Translation Studies Reader
The Translation Studies Reader provides a definitive survey of the most important
and influential developments in translation theory and research, with an emphasis
on the twentieth and twenty-f irst centuries. The introductory essays prefacing each
section place a wide range of seminal and innovative readings within their various
contexts, thematic and cultural, institutional and historical.
The fourth edition of this classic reader has been substantially revised and
updated. Notable features include:
(cid:129) Four new readings that sketch the history of Chinese translation from antiquity
to the early twentieth century
(cid:129) Four new readings that sample key trends in translation research since 2000
(cid:129) Incisive commentary on topics of current debate in the field such as world
literature, migration and translingualism, and translation history
(cid:129) A conceptual organization that illuminates the main models of translation
theory and practice, whether instrumental or hermeneutic
This carefully curated selection of key works, by leading scholar and translation the-
orist, Lawrence Venuti, is essential reading for students and scholars on courses
such as History of Translation Studies, Translation Theory, and Trends in Translation
Studies.
Lawrence Venuti , Professor Emeritus of English at Temple University, USA,
is a translation theorist and historian as well as a translator from Italian, French,
and Catalan. He is the author of The Translator’s Invisibility (Translation Classics
edition, 2018), T he Scandals of Translation (1998), and T ranslation Changes
Everything (2013) as well as the editor of Teaching Translation: Programs, Courses,
Pedagogies (2017), all published by Routledge.

The
Translation
Studies
Reader
Fourth edition
Edited by
Lawrence Venuti
Fourth edition published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Lawrence Venuti; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Lawrence Venuti to be identified as the author of the editorial material,
and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 2000
Third edition published by Routledge 2012
British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Venuti, Lawrence, editor.
Title: The translation studies reader/edited by Lawrence Venuti.
Description: Fourth edition. | Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2021. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020045634 | ISBN 9780367235949 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780367235970 (paperback) | ISBN 9780429280641 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Translating and interpreting–History.
Classification: LCC P306 .T7436 2021 | DDC 418/.02–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020045634
ISBN: 978- 0- 367- 23594- 9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978- 0- 367- 23597- 0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978- 0- 429- 28064- 1 (ebk)
Typeset in Perpetua
by Newgen Publishing UK
For Julius David Venuti

ma tu ci hai trovato
e hai scelto nel gatto
quei miagolii che
non lo fanno apposta!

Contents
Acknowledgements x i
INTRODUCTION 1
Foundational statements 1 1
1 [Zhi Qian?] 25
FROM THE PREFACE TO THE S UTRA OF DHARMA VERSES
Translated by Haun Saussy
2 Dao’an 27
FROM THE PREFACE TO A COLLATION OF THE PERFECTION
OF GREAT WISDOM SUTRA
Translated by Haun Saussy
3 Jerome 29
LETTER TO PAMMACHIUS
Translated by Kathleen Davis
4 Nicolas Perrot d’Ablancourt 39
PREFACES TO TACITUS AND LUCIAN
Translated by Lawrence Venuti
5 John Dryden 46
FROM THE PREFACE TO O VID’S EPISTLES
viii CONTENTS
6 Friedrich Schleiermacher 51
ON THE DIFFERENT METHODS OF TRANSLATING
Translated by Susan Bernofsky
7 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 72
TRANSLATIONS
Translated by Sharon Sloan
8 Friedrich Nietzsche 75
TRANSLATIONS
Translated by Walter Kaufmann
9 Lin Shu 77
PARATEXTS TO A RECORD OF THE BLACK SLAVES’
PLEA TO HEAVEN
Translated by R. David Arkush, Leo Ou-f an Lee,
and Michael Gibbs Hill
1900s– 1930s 81
10 Walter Benjamin 89
THE TRANSLATOR’S TASK
Translated by Steven Rendall
11 Ezra Pound 9 8
GUIDO’S RELATIONS
12 Qu Qiubai and Lu Xun 106
AN EXCHANGE ON TRANSLATION
Translated by Chloe Estep
13 Jorge Luis Borges 122
THE TRANSLATORS OF THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS
Translated by Esther Allen
1940s– 1950s 1 37
14 Vladimir Nabokov 143
PROBLEMS OF TRANSLATION: O NEGIN IN ENGLISH
15 Roman Jakobson 156
ON LINGUISTIC ASPECTS OF TRANSLATION
CONTENTS ix
1960s– 1970s 163
16 Eugene Nida 171
PRINCIPLES OF CORRESPONDENCE
17 George Steiner 186
THE HERMENEUTIC MOTION
18 Itamar Even-Z ohar 191
THE POSITION OF TRANSLATED LITERATURE WITHIN
THE LITERARY POLYSYSTEM
19 Gideon Toury 197
THE NATURE AND ROLE OF NORMS IN TRANSLATION
1980s 2 11
20 Hans J. Vermeer 219
SKOPOS AND COMMISSION IN TRANSLATIONAL ACTION
Translated by Andrew Chesterman
21 Andr é Lefevere 231
MOTHER COURAGE’S CUCUMBERS: TEXT, SYSTEM AND
REFRACTION IN A THEORY OF LITERATURE
22 Antoine Berman 247
TRANSLATION AND THE TRIALS OF THE FOREIGN
Translated by Lawrence Venuti
23 Lori Chamberlain 261
GENDER AND THE METAPHORICS OF TRANSLATION
1990s 277
24 Annie Brisset 289
THE SEARCH FOR A NATIVE LANGUAGE: TRANSLATION
AND CULTURAL IDENTITY
Translated by Rosalind Gill and Roger Gannon
25 Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak 320
THE POLITICS OF TRANSLATION
26 Kwame Anthony Appiah 339
THICK TRANSLATION