The Politics of Translation in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

This collection of ten essays, ranging in period from the fourth to the sixteenth centuries and in subject from translations of Virgil and Boethius to translations by Erasmus, Montaigne, and Shakespeare, explores the theme of the interplay of translation and ideology, the notion that the practice of translating is influenced by factors other than purely linguistic ones. Recent scholars studying translation locate texts in the political, economic, and cultural contexts from which they derive; they seek to understand the interaction between the source and the translating cultures. For example, the shift from Latin to the vernacular that took place in the late Middle Ages is at the center of contentious issues about who should be able to read what. Whereas translators were once seen as transparent conduits at best, current work recognizes their interventionist power, the work of individuals anchored in their time and context, contributing to the politicization of a text.

Edited by Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, Luise Von Flotow, and Daniel Russell

Co-published with the University of Ottawa Press