Western Translation Theory from Herodotus to Nietzsche

Name: Western Translation Theory from Herodotus to Nietzsche
Price: 17390 ISK
Availability: InStock
Author: Douglas Robinson
ISBN: 9781040662977

Höfundur: Douglas Robinson (Útgáfa: 3)

Kaup valmöguleikar

Western Translation Theory from Herodotus to Nietzsche offers the most comprehensive collection of translation theory readings available to date, from the Histories of Herodotus in the mid-5th century to the end of the 19th century. This work provides a rich panoply of thinking about translation across the centuries, covering such topics as the best type of translator, problems of translating sacred texts, translation and language teaching, translation as rhetoric, translation and empire, and translation and gender.

This pioneering anthology contains over 140 texts with 30 new ones included in this edition. 21 texts by 18 authors appear here for the first time in English translation. Every entry includes a bibliographical headnote and footnotes. Intended for classroom use in History of Translation Theory, History of Rhetoric, or History of Western Thought courses, this anthology is also key reading for scholars of translation and those interested in the intellectual history of the West.

Nánar um bókina

Útgefandi: Taylor & Francis

ISBN: 9781040662977

Print ISBN: 9781032867113

Format: ePub

Útgáfa: 3

Höfundar: Douglas Robinson

Tungumál: English

Útgefið: 2026-04-24

Prent takmörkun á líftíma: 100

Prent takmörkun: 2

Afritunar takmörkun: 2

Flokkar: Tungumál og málvísindi

Efnisflokkar: Málvísindi › Þýðingar og túlkun

Kaflar

Cover
Half Title
Endorsement Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Editor’s Preface to the 2026 Edition
Acknowledgments for the 2026 Edition
Editor’s Preface to the 1997, 2002, and 2014 Editions
Acknowledgments for the First Three Editions
Herodotus
The Twittering of Birds
From Ἱστορίαι, Book Two (Histories, mid-5th century BCE)
The Origin of the Class of Egyptian Interpreters
From Ἱστορίαι, Book Two (Histories, mid-5th century BCE)
Aristophanes
Teaching Birds to Speak
From Ὄρνιθες (The Birds, 414 BCE)
Plato
The First Prophetic Utterances Came from an Oak Tree
From Φαῖδρος (Phaedrus, ca. 370 BCE; 275bc)
Plautus
Translating as Turning a Play into Barbarian
From the prologues of three Plautus plays
Terence
Transferring What is Suitable
From the prologue to his first play, Andria (166 BCE)
Squeezing the Source Text Out Word from Word
From the prologue to his last play, Adelphoe (The Brothers, 160 BCE)
Anonymous (“Aristeas”)
The Work of the Seventy-Two
From Aristeas to Philocrates (around 130 BCE)
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Rendering People Gentle and Converting them Toward Different Ways of Living
From De inventione (“On Invention,” ca. 85 BCE)
Translating Greek Orations into Latin
From De oratore (“On the Orator,” 55 BCE?)
Taking the Easy (Literal) Way vs. Being Altogether Original
From De legibus (“On the Laws,” 53–50 BCE)
The Best Kind of Orator
(De optimo genere oratorum, 52 BCE?)
If These Studies are Translated to Us, We Shall Have No Need of Greek Libraries
From Tusculanae Disputationes (Tusculan Disputations, 45 BCE)
Adding My Own Judgment and Writing Them in a New Arrangement
From De finibus bonorum et malorum (“On Moral Ends,” 45-44 BCE)
Translating Greek Philosophy into Latin
From De finibus bonorum et malorum (“On Moral Ends,” 45-44 BCE)
Using My Own Personal Judgment
From De officiis (“On Moral Duties,” 44 BCE)
Lucretius
Lighting up the Obscure Discoveries of the Greeks with Latin Verses
From De rerum natura (“On the Nature of Things,” 1st century BCE)
Horace
Placing Free Footsteps Through Emptiness
From Epistle 19 addressed to his patron Maecenas, Epistularum liber primus (“First Book of Epistles,” ca. 21 BCE)
Not Using “word-by-other, like a glosser sure”
From Ars poetica (“The Art of Poetry,” ca. 10 BCE)
Render Sense for Sense
From Ars poetica (“The Art of Poetry,” ca. 10 BCE)
Imitating in Your Own Words
From Ars poetica (“The Art of Poetry,” ca. 10 BCE)
Philo Judaeus
The Creation of the Septuagint
From De vita Mosis (“On the Life of Moses,” 20 BCE?)
Valerius Maximus
Forcing Greeks to Speak Through an Interpreter (even in Greece)
Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX (“Nine Books of Memorable Deeds and Sayings,” c. 30 CE)
Paul of Tarsus
Rather Five Words With the Mind Than Ten Thousand in a Tongue
1 Corinthians 14 (55 C.E.?)
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
What Is
From Epistulae morales ad Lucilium, letter 58 (“Moral Epistles to Lucilius,” 63-65 C.E.)
Plutarch
Interpreted Speech Like a Folded-up Persian Carpet
From Βίοι Παράλληλοι (Parallel Lives, “Life of Themistocles,” early 2nd century CE)
Pliny the Younger
Imitation of the Best Models
Epistula ad Fuscum Salinatorem
(“Letter to Fuscus Salinator,” 85 C.E.?)
Quintilian (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus)
On What We Should Employ Ourselves When We Write
From Institutiones oratoriae (“Institutes of Oratory,” 96 C.E.?)
Aulus Gellius
On the Importance of Avoiding Strict Literalness
From Noctes Atticae (Attic Nights, in or after 177 CE)
Epiphanius of Constantia (Salamis)
Producing an Unadulterated Translation
From περὶ μέτρων καὶ στάθμων (“On Weights and Measures,” 392)
Jerome (Eusebius Hieronymus)
The Best Kind of Translator
Epistola ad Pammachium (“Letter to Pammachius,” #57, 395)
Who Was the First Lying Author?
From Prefatio in Pentateuchem (“Preface to the Pentateuch,” 406)
Augustine (Aurelius Augustinus)
The Use of Translations
From De doctrina christiana (On Christian Doctrine, 397-426)
Of the Authority of the Septuagint Translation
From De civitate Dei contra paganos (On the City of God Against the Pagans, 413-426 BCE)
C. Chirius Fortunatianus
Translation as Exercitatio
From Artis rhetoricae scholicae (“The Scholastic Art of Rhetoric,” 5th century)
Anonymous Jewish Scholars
The Incident of King Ptolemy
From Megillah 9a, Babylonian Talmud (ca. 450-ca. 550 CE)
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius
Committing the Fault of the True Interpreter
From In Isagoge Porphyrii Commenta (“Commentary on Porphyry’s Categories,” 510?)
Gregory the Great
Giving the Sense
From Epistula ad Aristobolum expraefectum et antigraphum (“Letter to Aristobulus, Ex-Prefect and Secretary,” 590/91)
Mangling the Sense
From Epistula ad Narsem religiosum (“Letter to Narses the Religious,” 597/98)
John Scotus Eriugena
Translator, Not Expositor
From prologue to his translation of De caelesti hierarchia by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (“On the Heavenly Hierarchy,” mid-9th century)
King Alfred
Translating Plainly and Clearly
Preface to Translation of Boethius’ de Consolatione Philosophiae (“On the Consolation of Philosophy,” 877?)
Translating Books Which Are Most Necessary For All Men to Know
Letter to Bishop Waerferth (890/97)
Aelfric
Translating Into Our Ordinary Speech
From the preface to Book I of Catholic Homilies (989)
Pure and Plain Words
From the preface to Book II of Catholic Homilies (992)
Translating Into Idiomatic English
Preface to Genesis (997?)
Notker the German
Letter to Bishop Hugo von Sitten (c. 1015)
Burgundio of Pisa
The Risk of Altering So Great an Original
From preface to Latin translation of John Chrysostom’s 88 homilies on the Gospel of John (1170s)
Anonymous
The Three Kinds of Translating (12th century)
From Commentary on Boethius’ De arithmetica (“On Arithmetic,” 12th century)
Maimonides
Not the Right Method
From Letter to Samuel ibn Tibbon (Cairo, 30 September 1199)
Thomas Aquinas
Proem
From Contra errores Graecorum (“Against the Errors of the Greeks,” 1263?)
Roger Bacon
On the Usefulness of Grammar
From Opus Maius (“Major Work,” 1268?)
Jean de Meun
Translating for Lay People
From the prologue to Roman de la Rose (ca. 1280)
Plainly Rendering the Sense
From the dedication to his translation of Boethius’ de Consolatione Philosophiae (as Livres de Confort de Philosophie “Books on the Consolation of Philosophy,” between 1285 and 1305)
Dante Alighieri
Translation Destroys the Sweetness of the Original
From Il Convivio (“The Banquet,” 1304-7)
Anonymous
Another Meaning
From Ovide moralisé (“Ovid Moralized,” early 14th century)
Richard Rolle
Following the Letter
Prologue to his English translation of the Psalter (1330s)
John of Trevisa
Dialogue Between a Lord and a Clerk upon Translation (1387)
Coluccio Salutati
Letter to Antonio Loschi (1392)
Anonymous (John Purvey?)
On Translating the Bible (1395/97)
Leonardo Bruni Aretino
All Those Absurdities Were the Work of the Translator
From his preface to his Latin translation of Plutarch’s Ἀντώνιος (Vita Marci Antonii / Life of Mark Antony, 1405-6)
You Iron-headed Stooge, Is That What You Call Translating?
Dedication of his translation of Aristotle’s Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια to Pope Martin V (1416-17)
On the Correct Way of Translating
De interpretatione recta (1424/26)
Thomas Arundel
The Translation of Holy Scripture is a Dangerous Thing
From Constitutions Against the Lollards (January 14, 1408)
Cencio de’ Rustici
Not Altering the Greek proprietas in Any Way
Preface to his Latin translation of Aelius Aristides’ Dionysius (1416)
King Duarte
The Art of Translating from Latin
From O Leal Conselheiro (“The Loyal Counselor,” 1430s)
William Caxton
The Good Business of Translating a Work into English
From his translation of the prologue to Raoul le Fèvre, Recoeil des histoires de Troyes (“The Recuell of the Histories of Troy,” 1471)
The Translator as Embellisher in Making the Language Ornate and Fair
From the Epilogue to Geoffrey Chaucer’s Boece, a translation of Boethius’ de Consolatione Philosophiae (“On the Consolation of Philosophy,” 1478)
Prologue to Aeneid (1490)
Desiderius Erasmus
Letter to Nicolas Ruistre (1503)
Letter to William Warham (1506)
Letter to William Warham (1507)
Letter to Maarten Lips (1518)
Thomas More
Whether the Clergy of This Realm Have Forbidden All the People to Have Any Scripture Translated into our Tongue
From A Dialogue Concerning Heresies and Matters of Religion (1529)
Martin Luther
Circular Letter on Translation
Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen (1530)
William Tyndale
How Happeneth That Ye Defenders Translate Not One Yourselves?
From An Answer to Sir Thomas More’s Dialogue (1531)
Juan Luis Vives
Practice in Writing
From De Tradendis Disciplinis (“On Education,” 1531)
Translation and Interpretation
From De Ratione Dicendi (“On the Reason for Speaking,” 1533)
Juan Boscán
Translating this Book is not Properly to Romance it, but Rather to Change it from One Vulgar Language into Another
From the Dedication to Doña Jerónima Palova de Almogávar of the translation of Il Cortegiano by Baldassare Castiglione (“The Courtier,” 1534)
Étienne Dolet
The Way to Translate Well from One Language into Another
La Manière de bien traduire d’une langue en l’autre (1540)
Catherine Parr and Elizabeth Tudor
Lady Elizabeth’s Letter to Catherine Parr
Preface to her translation of Queen Marguerite of Navarre, Miroir de l’âme pécheresse (“The Glasse of the Synnefull Soule,” 1544)
The Translator as Imitator and Inheritor of the King’s Virtues
Dedicatory letter to Henry VIII, December 30, 1545
Lady Elizabeth’s Latin, French, and Italian translations of Queen Catherine Parr’s Prayers or Meditations
Translating Word for Word
Dedicatory letter (written in French) to Catherine Parr, December 30, 1545
Lady Elizabeth’s English translation of Chapter 1 of John Calvin’s Institution de la Religion Chrestienne (“Institution of the Christian Religion”)
Undertaking So Many Labours for the Highest Good of the Commonwealth
From a letter from Catherine Parr to Mary Tudor, September 1545 or 1547
Mary Roper Clarke Basset
Neither Impairing the Sense and Meaning of the Author Nor Leaving the Place Obscure and Dark
Dedicatory epistle to her translation of Eusebius’ Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ Ἱστορία (“Ecclesiastical History,” Book I into Latin, Books II-V into English)
Written and presented to Mary Tudor between 1547 and 1553
Nahua Nobles
Reported it to Him, Translating it for Him
From Book XII of the Florentine Codex, “How War was Waged Here in the Altepetl of Mexico” (1540s-early 1570s)
An Interpreter for Spanish
Letter from the Nahua Nobles of Xochimilco to the King of Spain (1563)
Mikael Agricola
Preface to the New Testament
Alcupuhe sen wdhen Testamentin päle (1548)
Joachim du Bellay
The Defense and Illustration of the French Language
Défense et illustration de la langue françoise (1549)
Anna Cooke
The Study of Italian Justified
From the preface to her translation of Bernadine Ochine, Prediche (Fouretene sermons, 1550?)
Jacques Peletier du Mans
Of Translation
From L’art poétique (“The Poetic Art,” 1555)
Joanna Lumley
Translating in Such a Way that the Greek Easily Corresponds to the Latin and the Latin to the Greek
Dedicatory epistle attached to her translation of two orations by Isocrates
Jacques Amyot
Reflecting and Capturing the Author’s Form, Style, and Manner of Speaking
From “To the Readers,” dedication of La vie des hommes illustres de Plutarque (“Plutarch’s Lives of Illustrious Men,” 1559)
Fray Luis de León
The Translator Must be Faithful and Exact
Prologue to the translation Cantar de cantares (“Song of Songs,” ca. 1561)
Girolamo Catena
Regarding as the Best Interpreter Him who is Most Faithful, Who Makes no Variation to the Original Text of the Author
From Discorso di Girolamo Catena, fatto nell’Academia de gl’illustrissimi affidati, sopra la traduttione delle scienze, & d’altre facultà (“Girolamo Catena’s discourse, delivered at the Academy of the Most Illustrious Entrusted, on translating scientific texts, & texts from other disciplines,” Pavia, May 17, 1562)
Alexander Neville
Rudely Translated, For Thy Profit
From Neville’s “Preface to the Reader”
Oedipus, the Fifth Tragedy of Seneca (1563)
Arthur Golding
Making Ovid Well Acquainted with our Tongue
From the “Preface to the Reader,” Ovid’s Metamorphoses (1567)
Roger Ascham
The Ready Way to the Latin Tongue
From The Scholemaster (1570)
Étienne Pasquier
Letter to Jacques Cujas (1576)
Letter to Odet de Tournebus (1576)
Margaret Tyler
M.T. to the Reader
From Preface to her translation of Diego Ortúñez de Calahorra, El Espejo de príncipes y caballeros o El Caballero del Febo (1555), as A mirrour of princely deedes and knighthood (1578)
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
We Call Barbarous Anything That is Contrary to Our Own Habits
From “Des cannibals” (“On Cannibals,” 1580)
Gregory Martin
Five Sundry Abuses or Corruptions of Holy Scripture
From preface to A Discovery of the Manifold Corruptions of the Holy Scriptures (1582)
The Holy Scriptures Ought Not be Read Indifferently of All
From “Preface to the Reader,” The New Testament of Jesus Christ (1582)
William Fulke
That None of These Five Abuses are Committed By Us
From preface to A Defence of the Sincere and True Translations of the Holy Scriptures into the English Tongue, Against the Cavils of Gregory Martin (1583)
The Holy Scriptures Should Always Be in Our Mother Tongue
From “Confutation of the Rhemists’ Preface,” Confutation of the Rhemist
Testament (1589)
Alberico Gentili
The Difference Between Interpreter and Ambassador
From De legationibus libri tres (“Three Books on Legations,” 1585)
Anne Vaughan Lock
To Admonish, to Awaken, and to Comfort
Translation of Jean Taffin, Des Marques des enfans de Dieu et des consolations en leurs afflictions, as Of the markes of the children of God and of their comforts in afflictions (1590)
Stanisław Gosławski
Dressed in Polish Robes and in the Polish Language
From the dedication to his Polish translation (1597) of the play (written in Latin) Castus Joseph by Szymon Szymonowic
John Florio
The Epistle Dedicatory
Dedication of his translation of Montaigne’s Essays (1603)
To the Courteous Reader
Preface to his translation of Montaigne’s Essays (1603)
George Chapman
The Preface to the Reader
From his translation of the Iliad (1611)
Miles Smith
The Translators to the Reader
Preface to the King James Version of the Bible (1611)
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Viewing Flemish Tapestries from the Wrong Side
From Don Quixote, Part II (1615)
Jean Chapelain
To the Reader
Preface to his translation of Mateo Alemán, Guzman de Alfarache (Le Gueux, ou la vie de Guzman d’Alfarache, 1619-1620)
Joseph Webbe
Perceiving the Custom of the Ancients
From An Appeal to Truth, Concerning Art and Use (1622)
John Denham
To Sir Richard Fanshaw Upon His Translation of Pastor Fido (1648)
The Vulgar Error of being Fidus Interpres
Preface to The Destruction of Troy: An Essay upon the Second Book of Virgils Æneis (1656)
Gilles Ménage
Beautiful but Unfaithful (1648)
Nicolas Perrot d’Ablancourt
To Monsieur Conrart
Dedication of his French translation of Lucian (1654)
Adjusting Things to Accommodate the Subject
From preface to his French translation of Thucydides (1662)
Abraham Cowley
Preface to Pindarique Odes (1656)
Pierre Daniel Huet
Concerning the Best Kind of Translation
From De optimo genere interpretandi (“On the Best Kind of Translation,” 1661)
Katherine Philips
Translating Pompey
From Letters from Orinda to Poliarchus (1663)
Lucy Hutchinson
Translation as an Antidote against the Poison of Heathen Writing
The dedication of her translation of Lucretius to the Earl of Anglesey (begun in the 1650s, presented to her patron in 1675)
John Dryden
The Three Types of Translation
From preface to Ovid’s Epistles (1680)
Steering Betwixt Two Extremes
From “Dedication of the Aeneis” (1697)
Wentworth Dillon, Earl of Roscommon
An Essay on Translated Verse (1684)
Aphra Behn
Essay on Translated Prose
“Translator’s PREFACE” to Behn’s translation of Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, A discovery of new worlds from the French, made English by A. Behn (1688)
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Enriching the German Language
From Unvorgreifliche Gedanken, betreffend die Ausübung und Verbesserung der deutschen Sprache (“Unprejudiced Thoughts Concerning the Practice and Improvement of the German Language,” 1697)
Anne Dacier
My Condemnation
From the preface to her translation of L’Iliade d’Homère (1699)
Joseph Addison
National Accents
Spectator no. 29 (1711)
Alexander Pope
The Chief Characteristic of Translation
From Preface to the Iliad (1715)
Peter the Great
No Translator Without Knowledge of the Science About Which He is Translating is Able to Translate It
Edict 4438, “On the Preparation of Translators of Books for Instruction in the Sciences” (1724)
Georg Venzky
A Ready and Faithful Memory, a Happy and Lively Imagination, and a Sharp and Penetrating Faculty of Judgment
From “Das Bild eines geschickten Übersetzers” (“Portrait of a Skilled Translator,” 1734)
In Johann Christoph Gottsched, Beyträge zur Critischen Historie der deutschen Sprache, Poesie und Beredsamkeit (Contributions to the Critical History of the German Language, Poetry and Eloquence)
Charles Batteux
Principles of Translation
From Principes de littérature (“Principles of Literature,” 1747-48)
Elizabeth Carter (and Catherine Talbot and Thomas Secker)
Translating Epictetus
Letters to and from Catherine Talbot and Thomas Secker, Bishop of Oxford (1749-1758)
Samuel Johnson
The Art of Translation
The Idler 68/69 (1759)
Translating Homer
From Life of Pope (1779-81)
Mary Collyer
Taking Up the Pen in Order to Contribute to the Support and Education of My Children
The Dedication to Queen Charlotte of Great Britain and Ireland of her 1761 translation of Salomon Gessner’s 1758 novel Der Tod Abels as The Death of Abel
Johann Gottfried Herder
The Ideal Translator
From Über die neuere Deutsche Litteratur. Fragmente (“On the More Recent German Literature: Fragments,” 1766-1767)
Language as Maiden
From Über die neuere Deutsche Litteratur. Fragmente (“On the More Recent German Literature: Fragments,” revised edition, 1768)
Anonymous
Four Responsibilities of the Translator
“Cztery powinności tłumacza”
Monitor no. 98 (Warsaw, 9 December 1767)
Pierre-Prime-Félicien Le Tourneur
Using the Flaws in the Original to Justify Liberties in Translation
From the Discours préliminaire (“Opening Remarks”) to his French translation Les Nuits d’Young (“The Nights of Young,” 1769)
Antonio de Capmany y Monpalau
In Translating the Copy must Always be Faithful to the Sense and, if Possible, to the Letter of the Author
From the Prologue to Arte de traducir el idioma francés al castellano (“Art of Translating the French Language into Castilian,” 1776)
Jean-François Marmontel
Nothing is Harder to Replicate from One Language to Another than a Noble Colloquial
Supplément à L’Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (“Supplement to the Encyclopedia or Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts,” 1777)
Alexander Fraser Tytler
The Proper Task of a Translator
From Essay on the Principles of Translation (1790)
Novalis
Translating Out of Poetic Morality
From a letter to A. W. Schlegel (1790)
Grammatical, Transformative, Mythical
From Blütenstaub (“Pollen,” 1798)
Ignacy Krasicki
On Translating Books
O tłumaczeniu ksiąg (1803)
August Wilhelm von Schlegel
Noble Rust
From “Dante—“Über die Göttliche Komödie” (“Dante—On the Divine Comedy,” 1791)
At Once Faithful and Poetic
From “Etwas über Wilhelm Shakespeare bei Gelegenheit Wilhelm Meisters” (“Something on William Shakespeare on the Occasion of Wilhelm Meister,” 1796)
Poetic Translation an Imperfect Approximation
From “Homers Werke von Johann Heinrich Voss” (“Homer’s Works by Voss,” 1796)
Projecting Oneself into Foreign Mentalities
From Geschichte der klassischen Literatur (“History of Classical Literature,” 1802)
The Speaking Voice of the Civilized World
From Geschichte der romantischen Literatur (“History of Romance Literature,” 1803)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Prose Translations
From Dichtung und Wahrheit (“Poetry and Truth,” 1811)
The Two Maxims
From “Rede zum Andenken des edlen Dichters, Bruders und Freundes Wieland” (“Speech in Memory of the Noble Poet, Brother and Friend Wieland,” 1813)
Translations
From notes to West-Östlicher Divan (“Poems of West and East,” 1819)
The Translator as Match-Maker
From Maximen und Reflexionen (“Maxims and Reflections,” 1826)
The Translator as One Who Strives to be a Mediator in this Universal Intellectual Trade
“Rezension von Thomas Carlyles German Romance” (“On Carlyle’s German Romance,” 1828)
Friedrich Schleiermacher
On the Different Methods of Translating
“Ueber die verschiedenen Methoden des Übersetzens”
Read to the Prussian Academy of Science, June 24, 1813
Euzebiusz Słowacki
On Translating from Foreign Languages into our Mother Tongue
“O przekładaniu z obcych języków na ojczysty”
A lecture given at the Imperial University of Vilnius, September 15, 1813
Stanisław Potocki
What Translation Is—With Some Remarks and Recommendations
“Czym jest przekładanie, i stosowne do niego uwagi i przepisy”
Excerpted from O wymowie i stylu (“On Expression and Style,” 1815)
Wilhelm von Humboldt
The More Faithful, The More Divergent
From the introduction to his translation of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon (1816)
Madame de Staël
On the Spirit of Translations
“De l’esprit des traductions” (1816)
Giacomo Leopardi
Translating the Pure Expression of Feelings Presented by the Thing Itself
From Zibaldone di pensieri (1817-1832, published 1890)
Percy Bysshe Shelley
The Violet and the Crucible
From “A Defence of Poetry” (1821)
Wilhelm Ludwig von Küchelbecker
Not a Bad Idea to Know Which Foreign Writers are Fully Worth Imitating
From “O направлении нашей поэзии, особенно лирической, в последнее десятилетиe” (“On the Direction of Our Poetry, Especially Lyrical Poetry, over the Last Decade,” 1824)
Pyotr Vyazemsky
Two Types of Translation
Adolphe. A Novel by Benjamin Constant. A Note from the Translator (1829)
Translating Prose as a Liberating Linguistic Exercise
From a letter to Anna Ivanovna Gotovtseva (1830)
Vissarion Belinsky
We Should Have an Era of Translations
From “Изгнанник исторический роман из смутных времен Богемии, в продолжении тридцатилетней войны. Сочинение Богемуса. Перев. с немечкого” (“Review of The Exile, a Historical Novel Translated from the German,” 1835)
How to Translate Shakespeare Correctly
From “Гамлет, принц датский. Драматическое представление. Сочинение Виллиама Шекспира. Перевод с английского Николая Полевого” (“Review of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark. A Dramatic Production. A Composition of William Shakespeare. Translated from the English by Nikolai Polevoi,” 1837)
Russian Translations Belong to Russian Literature
From “Литературные объяснение” (“A Literary Explanation,” 1838)
Introducing German Romanticism to Russia
From “Русская литература в 1841 году” (“Russian Literature in 1841,” 1841)
Translating Only That Which is in Harmony with the Translator’s Spirit
From “Сочинения Александра Пушкина, Статья Вторая” (“Review of the Works of Aleksandr Pushkin, Article 2,” 1843)
Translating Homer Through Ancient Greek Culture Rather Than German Romanticism
From “Стихотворения В. Жуковского” (“Review of The Poetry of V. Zhukovsky, Volume 73,” 1844)
Surprisingly Close Yet, at the Same Time, Free, Light, and Elegant
From “Перевод сочинений Гоголя на французский язык” (“Review of Gogol’s Work in French,” 1845)
François-René de Chateaubriand
A Literal Translation in the Full Sense of the Term
From the “Remarques” / “Remarks” on his translation of Paradise Lost as Paradis perdu (1836)
Aleksandr Pushkin
Nothing More Challenging than to Translate Russian Poetry into French
From a letter to Nikolai Golitsyn (November 10, 1836)
Translating Milton Literally into French
From “О Мильтоне и переводе «Потерянного рая» Шатобрианом” (“On Milton and Chateaubriand’s Translation of Paradise Lost,” 1837)
Ivan Turgenev
Two Categories of Translation
Review of Schiller’s Wilhelm Tell, translated by F. Miller (1843)
Faust Might be Better Understood by Us than by Any Other Nation
From a review of Goethe’s Faust, translated by Mikhail Vronchenko (1844)
Turned into a Clown
From a letter to Sergey Aksakov (August 7, 1854)
Unnecessary Humble and Timid Attitude Towards the Original
From a letter to Afanasy Fet (December 7-25, 1859)
Far From What the French Appreciate
From a letter to Lev Tolstoy (December 29, 1879)
Fan Letter from Gustave Flaubert
From a letter to Lev Tolstoy (January 12, 1880)
Władysław Syrokomla
Awe for the Bones of Our Ancestors
From a letter to Romuald Podbrzeski (1846–1848)
Vasily Zhukovsky
Repeating Ancient Greek Fables in Russian
From “Гомерова Одиссея. Вместо предисловия” (“In Place of a Foreword to Homer’s Odyssey,” 1849)
Arthur Schopenhauer
On Language and Words
From Parerga und Paralipomena (“Appendices and Omissions,” 1851)
George Eliot
Translations and Translators
The Leader, October 30, 1855
Edward FitzGerald
Not Poets Enough
Letter to E. B. Cowell (1851)
Better a Live Sparrow than a Stuffed Eagle
Letter to E. B. Cowell (1859)
The Live Dog Better than the Dead Lion
Letter to J. R. Lowell (1878)
Matthew Arnold
The Translator’s Tribunal
From On Translating Homer (1861)
Francis W. Newman
The Unlearned Public is the Rightful Judge of Taste
From Homeric Translation in Theory and Practice (1861)
Cyprian Norwid
Translated While Singing
From “Z ‘Odyssei’” (The Odyssey, 1870)
Richard F. Burton
Clothing the Skeleton
From Preface to translation of Vikram and the Vampire (1870)
A Plain and Literal Translation
From Introduction to The Book of The Thousand Nights and a Night (1885)
Robert Browning
Literal At Every Cost
From his preface to his translation of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon (1877)
Friedrich Nietzsche
Translation as Conquest
From Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (“The Gay Science,” 1882)
Translating the Tempo of the Original
From Jenseits von Gut und Böse (“Beyond Good and Evil,” 1886)
Biographies
References
Name Index
Subject Index
Titles