The Scandals of Translation

Description

‘The Scandals of Translation is one of the most provocative and far-reaching books to be published in the field of Translation Studies in recent years. Lawrence Venuti has proved himself a cultural commentator of the very first order. This book should be required reading for all those engaged in the humanities.’ ‘Venuti proposes a radical reformulation of what constitutes a valid translation… I find everything he says intellectually stimulating. If a good book makes the reader want to enter into a personal dialogue with the author, this is a very good book.’ Translation remains on the margins of society. Stigmatized as a form of authorship, discouraged by copyright law, depreciated by the academy, exploited by publishers and corporations, governments and religious organisations. Lawrence Venuti argues that translation is in this predicament because it reveals the contradictions and exclusions of dominant cultural values and institutions and thereby calls their authority into question. Venuti exposes what he refers to as the ‘scandals of translation’ by looking at the relationship between translation and the practices which at once need and marginalize it. The book moves between different languages, cultures, periods, disciplines and institutions and is richly illustrated by numerous case studies including: Bible translation in the early Christian Church; translations of poetry and philosophy from classical Greek and German (Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Wittgenstein, Heidegger); translations of the modern Japanese novel; the translation of bestsellers, advertisements and business journalism; and the author’s own translation of the Italian writer, I.U. Tarchetti. The Scandals of Translation advances current thinking about translation, as Venuti works towards the formulation of an ethics that enables translations to be written, read and evaluated with greater respect for linguistic and cultural differences.