Résumés
Abstract
Translation was a prestigious activity in Britain in the Eighteenth Century, and the field was divided into two distinct areas: translation from the classics (focusing on Latin and Greek authors) which was a male-dominated territory, and translation from modern languages (French, German, Italian and Spanish) which was one of the few literary genres open to women. Yet, there were some significant exceptions in the area of the classics. I will analyze the case of Elizabeth Carter (1717-1806), the celebrated translator of Epictetus from the Greek, who developed a particularly original approach to translation, by adopting an ingenious form of proto-feminist collaboration with her friend Catherine Talbot (1721-70).
Keywords/Mots-clés:
- women translators,
- feminist approaches to translation,
- Eighteenth-century translation,
- translation theory,
- translation of the classics
Résumé
Au dix-huitième siècle, la traduction était une activité prestigieuse en Grande-Bretagne. Elle comprenait deux secteurs bien distincts, selon les langues traduites : d’une part le latin et le grec, d’autre part les langues vivantes (français, allemand, italien et espagnol). Les classiques des littératures latine et grecque étaient le domaine des hommes, tandis que la traduction des langues vivantes représentait un des rares genres littéraires ouverts aux femmes. Parmi les exceptions significatives dans le domaine des classiques, nous analyserons le cas d’Elizabeth Carter (1717-1806), connaisseuse du grec et célèbre en tant que traductrice d’Épictète. Carter a développé une approche particulièrement originale de la traduction, basée sur une forme ingénieuse de collaboration protoféministe avec son amie Catherine Talbot (1721-1770).
Parties annexes
References
- Agorni, M. (2002): Translating Italy for the Eighteenth Century: British Women, Translation and Travel Writing, Manchester, St Jerome.
- Armstrong, N. (1987): Desire and Domestic Fiction: A Political History of the Novel, Oxford, Oxford U.P.
- Ballard, G. (1752): Memoirs of Several Ladies of Great Britain, who Have Been Celebrated for their Writing or Skill in the Learned Languages, Arts and Science, London, Newbury.
- Ballaster, R. (1992): Seductive Forms: Women’s Amatory Fiction from 1684 to 1740, Oxford, Clarendon Press.
- Berman, A. (1995): Pour une critique des traductions: John Donne, Paris, Gallimard.
- Blakey, D. (1939): The Minerva Press 1790-1820, Oxford, Oxford Bibliographical Society at the University Press.
- Braidotti, R. (1991): Patterns of Dissonance, transl. by E. Guild, Padstow, Politi Press.
- Chesterman, A: “Proposal for a Hieronymic Oath,” The Translator, spec. issue 7, p. 129-154.
- Delisle, J. and J. Woodsworth (eds.) (1995): Translators Through History, Amsterdam & Philadelphia, John Benjamins.
- Diaz-Diocarez, M. (1985): Translating Poetic Discourse: Questions on Feminist Strategies in Adrienne Rich, Amsterdam & Philadelphia, John Benjamins.
- Draper, J.V. (1921): “The Theory of Translation in the Eighteenth Century,” Neophilologus 6, p. 241-254.
- Ferguson, M. (ed.) (1985): First Feminists: British Women Writers 1578-1799, Bloomington, Indiana U.P.
- Gessner, S. (1761): The Death of Abel in 5 Books: Attempted from the German of Mr Gessner, [transl. by M. Collyer], London, Dodsley.
- Harcstark Myers, S. (1990): The Bluestocking Circle: Women, Friendship and the Life of the Mind in Eighteenth-Century England, Oxford, Clarendon Press.
- Krontiris, T. (1992): Oppositional Voices: Women as Writers and Translators of Literature in the English Renaissance, London & New York, Routledge.
- Massardier-Kenney, F. (1997): “Towards a Redefinition of Feminist Translation Practice,” The Translator 3, p. 55-69.
- McMurran, M.L. (2000): “Taking Liberties: Translation and the Development of the Eighteenth-Century Novel,” The Translator 6, p. 87-108.
- Nord, C. (1997): Translation as a Purposeful Activity: Functionalist Approaches Explained, Manchester, St Jerome.
- Olohan, M. (2000): Intercultural Faultlines: Research Models in Translation Studies I: Textual and Cognitive Aspects, Manchester, St Jerome.
- Patterson Hannay, M. (1986), ed: Silent but for the Word: Tudor Women as Patrons, Translators and Writers of Religious Work, Ohio, Kent State U.P.
- Pennington, M. (ed.) (1807): Memoir of the Life of Mrs Elizabeth Carter with a New Edition of her Poems, London, Rivington.
- Pennington, M. (ed.) (1808): A Series of Letters Between Mrs Elizabeth Carter and Miss Catherine Talbot from the Year 1741 to 1770, 2 vols., London, Rivington.
- Pym, A. (2000): “On Cooperation,” in Olohan (2000), p. 181-192.
- Pym, A. (2001): “Introduction: The Return to Ethics in Translation Studies,” The Translator, spec. issue 7, p. 129-138.
- Ribeiro, A. and J. G. Basker (eds.) (1996): Tradition in Transition: Women Writers, Marginal Texts, and the Eighteenth-Century Canon, Oxford, Oxford U.P.
- Robinson, D. (1995): “Theorizing Translation in a Woman’s Voice: Subverting the Rhetoric of Patronage, Courtly Love and Morality,” The Translator 1, p. 153-75.
- Rogers, K. (1982): Feminism in Eighteenth-Century England, Brighton, Harvester Press.
- Steiner, T.R. (1957): English Translation Theories 1650-1800, Amsterdam, van Gorcum.
- Todd, J. (ed.) (1987): A Dictionary of British and American Women Writers 1660-1800, Rev. ed., Totowa, NJ, Rowman & Littlefield.
- Tymoczko, M. (1999): Translation in a Postcolonial Context, Manchester, St Jerome.
- Tymoczko, M. (2000): “Translation and Political Engagement: Activism, Social Change and the Role of Translation in Geopolitical Shifts,” The Translator 6, p. 23-47.
- Venuti, L. (1995): The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation, London & New York, Routledge.
- Venuti, L. (1998): The Scandals of Translation: Towards an Ethics of Difference, London & New York, Routledge.
- Vermeer, H. (1998): “Starting to Unask What Translatology is About,” Target 10, p. 41-68.
- Williams, C. (1996): “Poetry, Pudding and Epictetus: The Consistency of Elizabeth Carter,” in Ribeiro & Basker (1996), p. 3-24.