Women and Early Modern Cultures of Translation
Beyond the Female Tradition
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:23rd Jun '22
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Women and Early Modern Cultures of Translation: Beyond the Female Tradition is a major new intervention in research on early modern translation and will be an essential point of reference for anyone interested in the history of women translators. Research on women translators has often focused on early modern England; the example of early modern England has been taken as the norm for the rest of the continent and has shaped research on gender and translation more generally. This book brings a new European perspective to the field by introducing the case of Germany. It draws attention to forty women who can be identified as translators in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Germany and shows how their work does not fit easily into traditional narratives about marginalization and subversiveness. The study uses the example of Germany to argue against reading the work of translating women primarily through the lens of gender and to challenge claims about the existence of a female translation tradition which transcends the boundaries of time and place. Broadening our perspective to include Germany provides a more nuanced and informed account of the position of women within European translation cultures and forces us to rethink gender as a category of analysis in translation history. The book makes the case for a new 'woman-interrogated' approach to translation history (to borrow a concept from Carol Maier) and as such it will provide a blueprint for future work in the area.
The strength of Women and Early Modern Cultures of Translation lies in Brown's impressive recovery of the forty translators whose dates, works, and source textsare provided in an appendix. She offers detailed discussions of the women's families, education, and cultural environments and provides short analyses of individual works in each of the five thematic chapters. Brown's work is thus fully aligned with current approaches to women's translations, and her recovery of forty German female translators significantly enriches the field. * Micheline White, Spring journal *
Women and Early Modern Cultures of Translation is the fruit of serious archival work. * Chantal Wright, Monatshefte *
Brown has produced an exemplary and meticulous study that is judicious in its analysis. It is essential and stimulating reading for scholars and students of translation studies and early modern studies alike. * Joanna Raisbeck, Modern Language Review *
Hilary Brown's enormously learned and lucidly written book accomplishes two things. First, it presents as complete an account as is currently possible of women translators known to have worked in Germany between 1500 and 1690. Second, contextualizing their work in relation to the much better-studied work of their English counterparts, it challenges what was until recently an orthodox set of beliefs about early modern women translators, their literary status and their methods of working. The outcome is a study that demands attention from all students of translation history and of early modern women's writing. * Ritchie Robertson, Journal of European Studies *
Hilary Brown's illuminating Women & Early Modern Cultures of Translation: Beyond the Female Tradition [is a] groundbreaking scholarly study [which] will prompt not only a reassessment of her titular focus, but of the history of translation as well. * Gregary J. Racz, Translation Review Ritchie Robertson, Journal of European Studies *
ISBN: 9780192844347
Dimensions: 240mm x 164mm x 26mm
Weight: 642g
314 pages