Lawrence Venuti | |
---|---|
Born | 1953 |
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Translation theorist, translation historian, translator |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Temple University Columbia University (PhD) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Translation studies |
Institutions | Temple University,University of Pennsylvania,Princeton University,Columbia University,University of Trento,University of Mainz,Barnard College,and Queen's University Belfast |
Notable works | The Translator's Invisibility:A History of Translation (1995) |
Lawrence Venuti (born 1953) is an American translation theorist,translation historian,and a translator from Italian,French,and Catalan.
Born in Philadelphia,Venuti graduated from Temple University. In 1980 he completed a Ph.D. in English at Columbia University,where he studied with historically oriented literary scholars such as Joseph Mazzeo and Edward Tayler as well as theoretically engaged cultural and social critics such as Edward Said and Sylvere Lotringer. That year he received the Renato Poggioli Award for Italian Translation for his translation of Barbara Alberti's novel Delirium. [1]
Venuti is Professor Emeritus of English at Temple University,where he taught for forty years (1980-2020). He has taught as a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania,Princeton University,Columbia University,Universitàdegli Studi di Trento,Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz,Barnard College,and Queen's University Belfast. He has also lectured and led seminars in summer programs sponsored by the Centre for Translation Studies at KU Leuven,the Institute for World Literature,the Nida School for Translation Studies,the Sociétéd’Etudes des Théories et Pratiques en Traduction,and the University of Ljubljana.
During 1987-1995 he was the general editor of Border Lines:Works in Translation ,a series with Temple University Press. He oversaw the acquisition and publication of three translations: The World of Kate Roberts:Selected Stories,1925-1981 (1991),ed. and trans. Joseph P. Clancy; PPPPPP:Poems Performance Pieces Proses Plays Poetics,Selected Writings of Kurt Schwitters (1993),ed. and trans. Jerome Rothenberg and Pierre Joris;and Abd al-Hakim Qasim's Rites of Assent:Two Novellas (1995),trans. Peter Theroux.
He has served as a member of the editorial or advisory boards of The Translator:Studies in Intercultural Communication, TTR :traduction,terminologie,rédaction, Translation Review, Translation Studies, and Palimpsestes. He has edited special journal issues devoted to translation and minority (The Translator in 1998) and poetry and translation (Translation Studies in 2011).
His translation projects have won awards and grants from the PEN American Center (1980),the Italian government (1983),the National Endowment for the Arts (1983,1999),and the National Endowment for the Humanities (1989). In 1999 he held a Fulbright Senior Lectureship in translation studies at the University of Vic (Catalonia). [2] In 2007 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for his translation of Giovanni Pascoli's poetry and prose. [3] In 2008 his translation of Ernest Farrés's Edward Hopper:Poems won the Robert Fagles Translation Prize. In 2018 his translation of J.V. Foix's Daybook 1918:Early Fragments won the Global Humanities Translation Prize sponsored by Northwestern University's Buffett Institute for Global Studies and Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities.
Venuti has concentrated on the theory and practice of translation. He is considered one of the most critically minded figures in modern translation theory,often with positions that substantially differ from those of mainstream theorists. He criticizes the fact that,too frequently,the translator is an invisible figure. He has been engaged in translation criticism ever since he started translating. [4]
His seminal work, The Translator's Invisibility:A History of Translation ,has been a source of debate since its publication. In it,he lays out his theory that so-called "domesticating practices" at work in translating cultures have contributed to the reduction or suppression of the linguistic and cultural differences of source texts as well as the marginality of translation. He claims that a range of constraints—discursive,cultural,ideological,legal—entails that "'faithful rendition' is defined partly by the illusion of transparency," whereby a translation comes to be read as the source text and the translator's interpretive labor is effaced,a labor that always involves assimilating the source text to receiving cultural values. As a result,"foreignizing" or experimental types of translation are "likely to encounter opposition from publishers and large segments of Anglophone readers who read for immediate intelligibility",although he is careful to observe that the same development occurs worldwide,regardless of the degree of prestige that a language and culture may hold in the shifting global hierarchy. [5] This situates translation under a "discursive regime" in which "fluency" is narrowly defined as adherence to the current standard dialect of the translating language,preempting discursive forms that might register difference along with the translator's presence. [6] As a solution to this problem,Venuti puts forward the strategy of foreignization,which aims at "sending the reader abroad" in the sense of challenging dominant values in the receiving culture,instead of "bringing the author back home",as is the case when a translation contributes to the reinforcement of those values. [7]
Comparative literature scholar Susan Bassnett points out Venuti's emphasis on a translator-centered translation and his insistence that translators should inscribe themselves visibly into the text. [8] This emphasis requires that a translation be read not only as a text that establishes a semantic correspondence and a stylistic approximation to the source text,but also as a text in its own right that transforms its source and therefore is relatively autonomous from it.
Dino Buzzati-Traverso was an Italian novelist,short story writer,painter and poet,as well as a journalist for Corriere della Sera. His worldwide fame is mostly due to his novel The Tartar Steppe,although he is also known for his well-received collections of short stories.
Translation studies is an academic interdiscipline dealing with the systematic study of the theory,description and application of translation,interpreting,and localization. As an interdiscipline,translation studies borrows much from the various fields of study that support translation. These include comparative literature,computer science,history,linguistics,philology,philosophy,semiotics,and terminology.
The Tartar Steppe,also published as The Stronghold,is a novel by Italian author Dino Buzzati,published in 1940. The novel tells the story of a young officer,Giovanni Drogo,and his life spent guarding the Bastiani Fortress,an old,unmaintained border fortress. The work was influenced by the 1904 poem "Waiting for the Barbarians" by Constantine P. Cavafy.
Linda Hutcheon,FRSC,OC is a Canadian academic working in the fields of literary theory and criticism,opera,and Canadian studies. She is a University Professor Emeritus in the Department of English and of the Centre for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto,where she has taught since 1988. In 2000 she was elected the 117th President of the Modern Language Association,the third Canadian to hold this position,and the first Canadian woman. She is particularly known for her influential theories of postmodernism.
Scapigliatura is the name of an artistic movement that developed in Italy after the Risorgimento period (1815–71). The movement included poets,writers,musicians,painters and sculptors. The term Scapigliatura is the Italian equivalent of the French "bohème" (bohemian),and "Scapigliato" literally means "unkempt" or "dishevelled". Most of these authors have never been translated into English,hence in most cases this entry cannot have and has no detailed references to specific sources from English books and publications. However,a list of sources from Italian academic studies of the subject is included,as is a list of the authors' main works in Italian.
Cultural translation is the practice of translation while respecting and showing cultural differences. This kind of translation solves some issues linked to culture,such as dialects,food or architecture.
Susan Edna Bassnett,is a translation theorist and scholar of comparative literature. She served as pro-vice-chancellor at the University of Warwick for ten years and taught in its Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies,which closed in 2009. As of 2016,she is Professor of Comparative Literature at the Universities of Glasgow and Warwick. Educated around Europe,she began her career in Italy and has lectured at universities in the United States. In 2007,she was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction between translating and interpreting;under this distinction,translation can begin only after the appearance of writing within a language community.
Iginio Ugo Tarchetti was an Italian author,poet,and journalist of the first generation of Lombard line.
AndréAlphons Lefevere was a translation theorist. He had studied at the University of Ghent (1964–1968) and then obtained his PhD at the University of Essex in 1972. When he died of acute leukemia,he was Professor of Germanic Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
Eugene Albert Nida was an American linguist who developed the dynamic equivalence theory of Bible translation and is considered one of the founders of modern translation studies.
Skopos theory is a theory in the field of translation studies that employs the prime principle of a purposeful action that determines a translation strategy. The intentionality of a translational action stated in a translation brief,the directives,and the rules guide a translator to attain the expected target text translatum.
Domestication and foreignization are strategies in translation,regarding the degree to which translators make a text conform to the target culture. Domestication is the strategy of making text closely conform to the culture of the language being translated to,which may involve the loss of information from the source text. Foreignization is the strategy of retaining information from the source text,and involves deliberately breaking the conventions of the target language to preserve its meaning. These strategies have been debated for hundreds of years,but the first person to formulate them in their modern sense was Lawrence Venuti,who introduced them to the field of translation studies in 1995 with his book The Translator's Invisibility:A History of Translation. Venuti's innovation to the field was his view that the dichotomy between domestication and foreignization was an ideological one;he views foreignization as the ethical choice for translators to make.
Sense-for-sense translation is the oldest norm for translating. It fundamentally means translating the meaning of each whole sentence before moving on to the next,and stands in normative opposition to word-for-word translation.
Anthony David Pym is a scholar best known for his work in translation studies.
Leila Charlotte Evelyn Petronella Buckley,née Porter,known by her pen name Frances Lobb,was an English poet,novelist and translator. She was the daughter of Lt.-Col. Adrian Sydney Morton Porter OStJ,a King's Messenger,and the author Rose Henniker Heaton. Her grandfather was the postal reformer Sir John Henniker Heaton,1st Baronet.
Translation changes everything:Theory and practice is a collection of essays written by translation theorist Lawrence Venuti. during the period 2000–2012.
The Translator's Invisibility:A History of Translation is a translation studies book by Lawrence Venuti originally released in 1995. A second,substantially revised edition was published in 2008.
Retranslation refers to the action of "translating a work that has previously been translated into the same language" or to the text itself that was retranslated. Retranslation of classic literature and religious texts is common. Retranslation may happen for many reasons—e.g.,to update obsolete language,improve translation quality,account for a revised edition of the source text,or a desire to present a new interpretation or creative response to a text. This is most common in poetry and drama.
The difficulty of translating Beowulf from its compact,metrical,alliterative form in a single surviving but damaged Old English manuscript into any modern language is considerable,matched by the large number of attempts to make the poem approachable,and the scholarly attention given to the problem.