A Proposal to Include Book History in Translation Studies. Illustrated with German Translations of Scott and Flaubert

Abstract

The systems approach of book history should be applied to the study of translations, because it sheds light on the agents who influence their genesis and distribution – such as mediators, translators, publishers, censors and readers. In the 1820s, which saw a significant increase in book production and translation, the translation of Walter Scott's works was mainly carried out as ‘hackwork’ by ‘speculative’ publishers unhindered by international copyright protection. In Austria, translations of his work were censored in order to conform to religious and political standards. Despite such interventions, Scott quickly became a favourite of the German reading public, as reflected in unprecedented print runs. Flaubert shared a similar fate: integrated into a popular novel series, the first German translation of Madame Bovary abounds with traces of the translator's self-censorship.

Introduction: Rethinking methods in translation history

“…We will require more translation of primary materials and bibliographical work, particularly web-based bibliographical work, to open up new fields of data. We need to do more research on the specific technologies of translation production (see Littau 2011) and on the relationship between translation and material culture, including publishing and book history (see Hale 2006;Bachleitner 2009), which will require a shift in the object of study from interchangeable text to unique document. More attention needs to be paid to sociolinguistic questions and to polyglossia as a constitutive principle of discursive practice.…”

European Literatures of Military Occupation

“…This chapter's focus is specifically on English-language translations of Polish narratives of Nazi and Soviet occupation published in the United Kingdom between 1939 and 1955. Drawing on recent research in translation studies and book history (Bachleitner 2010;Rundle 2010), it discusses the state interventions that shaped wartime publishing and had a significant impact on the reception of translated books. It explores the position of translated texts on the British book market, interrogates the framing of translations through various paratexts (i.e., introductions, prefaces, forewords, epilogues), analyzes the textual construction of a witness voice, and, finally, evaluates the reception of translated texts among British readers through a study of reviews and debates that they generated.…”

As formas da mediação cultural: a mediação editorial em Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas, de Machado de Assis

“…Uma vez compreendido o livro enquanto dispositivo, buscamos entender as injunções que atuam sobre seus mediadores e mediações. Para tanto, valemo-nos das pesquisas de Darnton (1995; sobre o circuito das comunicações, e de seus "críticos" Adams e Barker (1993), Feather (2007), Bachleitner (2009), Belle e Hosington (2017). Antes de adentrarmos aos modelos de circuitos, destacamos que Lumachi (1907) propusera uma "equação do livro", ao tentar teorizá-lo.…”