History of Translation
Code
711111028
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Línguas, Culturas e Literaturas Modernas
Credits
6
Teacher in charge
Karen Bennett
Weekly hours
4
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
This curricular unit aims to offer students a diachronic overview of the history of translation that will enable them to:
1. Pinpoint its key aspects and relate them to the chronological, geographical and sociological contexts in which they emerged;
2. Introduce the most prominent translators and theoreticians of translation;
3. Explain the main trends that have marked the history of translation theory;
4. Shed light on the role played by translators in (re)shaping national cultures (language, religion, science, literature);
5. Identify and put in context elements of continuity, innovation and dissent in the various moments of the history of translation;
6. Become acquainted with the documentary sources that are the most relevant for a historian of translation.
Prerequisites
Not applicable.
Subject matter
1. Classical Antiquity
1.1. Translation and the enrichment of language
1.2. The \"word-for-word\"/\"sense-for-sense\" debate
1.3. The myth of the Septuagint
2. The Middle Ages
2.1. The evangelical mission of the translator
2.2. Translation of the Classical Culture heritage: the School of Toledo
2.3. Translation and the development of national languages
3. The Renaissance
3.1. The transmigration of the original
3.2. Translation and Reformation
3.3. Translation and the affirmation of cultural identity
4. The 17th and 18th Centuries
4.1. Translation as recreation: the reign of the \"belles infidèles\"
4.2. Translation and cultural supremacy
5. The 19th Century
5.1. Conveying foreignness through translation
5.2. The concept of ´untranslatability´
5.3. Translating for the discerning few
6. The first half of the 20th Century
6.1. Translation and authoritarian regimes
6.2. The activity of the translator: expansion and specialization
6.3. The status of the translator and of the translated text
Bibliography
1. Montgomery, Scott (2000). Science in Translation: Movements of Knowledge through Cultures and Times. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
2. Deslisle, Jean and Judith Woodsworth (ed) (2012).Translators through History. Revised edition. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
3.Hayes, Julie Candler (2009). Translation, Subjectivity & Culture in France and England, 1600-1800. California: Stanford University Press.
4. Pym, Anthony (1998). Method in Translation History. Manchester: St. Jerome.
5. Rener, Frederick (1989). Interpretatio: Language and Translation from Cicero to Tytler. Amsterdam/Atlanta: Rodopi.
6. D´huslt, Lieven (1990). Cent ans de théorie française de la traduction: de Batteux à Littré (1748-1847). Lille: Presses Universitaires de Lille.
7. Venuti, Lawrence (1995). The Translator´s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London and New York: Routledge.
Teaching method
The introduction to each topic will, whenever possible, be made through the presentation of an excerpt of an original text and its translation in the historical moment that will be the object of that session or series of sessions (e.g. the last scene of \"King Lear\" and its rewriting by Ducis). Students will analyze both texts and draw inferences regarding, for instance, the historical and theoretical background of that particular rendition. After this stage of elicitation the teacher will expound, as interactively as possible, on the contents of each topic. As each topic is covered, students will be asked to take part in the analysis of the historical importance of translation at a given moment and in the explanation and discussion of aspects of continuity and/or variation in relation to other periods and different nations.
Evaluation method
Evaluation will take into account students´ participation in the sessions (20%), written/oral presentations (30%) and two classroom tests (50%).