Abstract
When we carry out research on translation history, we face a choice. Are we going to attempt to extrapolate the translation features we uncover in the historical context we are examining in order to contribute to a wider, general or more global history of translation – thereby also making our work more accessible to Translation Studies (TS) in general – or are we going to address those scholars who share our historical subject and introduce them to the insights which the study of translation can offer? In short, is translation the object of our research, or is it the lens through which we research our historical object? In this paper I will discuss this choice and, drawing on my own area of research in translation history, I will argue that seeking to introduce the insights that the study of translation can bring to a wider community of cultural historians, who do not usually take translation into consideration, should be at least one of the objectives of historians of translation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Between Cultures and Texts. Itineraries in Translation History/Entre les cultures et les textes. Itinéraires en histoire de la traduction |
| Place of Publication | Frankfurt Am Main |
| Publisher | Peter Lang |
| Pages | 33-43 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-3631617441 |
| Publication status | Published - 24 Jun 2011 |
Keywords
- translation history
- methdology of translation history
- translation theory
- translation research
- translation and fascism
- translation and censorship