Full Description
This book establishes an analytical model for the description of existing translations in their historical context within a framework suggested by systemic concepts of literature. It argues against mainstream 20th-century translation theory and, by proposing a socio-cultural model of translation, takes into account how a translation functions in the receiving culture. The case studies of successive translations of "Hamlet" in France from the eighteenth century neoclassical version of Jean-Francois Ducis to the 20th-century Lacanian, post-structuralist stage production of Daniel Mesguich show the translator at work. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of the changing theatrical and literary norms to which translators through the ages have been bound by the expectations both of their audiences and the literary establishment.
Contents
Preface Introduction: A Cultural Model of Translation 1. Jean-François Ducis' Hamlet, Tragédie imitée de l'Anglois: A Neoclassical Tragedy? 2. Alexandre Dumas and Paul Meurice's Hamlet, Prince de Danemark: Translation as an Exercise in Power 3. Marcel Schwob and Eugène Morand's La Tragique Histoire d'Hamlet: A Folkloric Prose Translation 4. The Blank Verse Shall Halt For't: André Gide's La Tragédie d'Hamlet 5. Yves Bonnefoy's La Tragédie d'Hamlet: An Allegorical Translation 6. Theatre as Translation/Translation as Theatre: Shakespeare's Hamlet by the Théâtre du Miroir. Concluding Remarks. Appendix: Table of Selected Hamlet Productions
