Résumés
Abstract
This paper seeks to situate Philemon Holland’s 1601 translation of Pliny’s Natural History in the context of the development of early modern English science. While Holland’s Pliny has traditionally been studied in terms of the early modern reception of the Classics, the establishment of an English rhetoric of translation and the development of English prose, this paper focuses on the discursive and paratextual strategies at work in Holland’s rendering of the botanical and medical books of Pliny’s Natural History. Drawing on and broadening Genette’s definition of paratexts as liminary spaces of authorial—or translatorial—control and self-fashioning, the paper explores the complexities of Holland’s self-defined translation project as the “divulging” of Pliny’s medical and botanical knowledge to a broadened readership. Whereas the prefaces to both volumes of the Natural History rely on the rhetoric of utilitas, or usefulness, to span the spectrum of potential readers, from schoolchildren and “inferior readers” to Humanist scholars and physicians, a closer analysis of the marginal annotations in books XIX to XXVII of the Natural History shows Holland integrating the Continental tradition of learned commentary denouncing the factual, interpretive, and methodological errors in Pliny’s treatise. It is argued that the resulting tension between text and paratext, and between Holland’s prefaces and other kinds of liminary material, ultimately reflects changing attitudes towards ancient science, and the very nature of scientific knowledge in early modern England.
Keywords:
- Pliny,
- natural history,
- Philemon Holland,
- translation,
- paratexts
Résumé
Le présent article vise à replacer la traduction de l’Histoire Naturelle de Pline l’Ancien par Philemon Holland (1601) dans le contexte de l’histoire des sciences en Angleterre. Alors que la critique a traditionnellement abordé la traduction de Holland sous l’angle de la réception des grands classiques antiques, du développement d’une rhétorique de la traduction en Angleterre, ou encore de la « défense et illustration » de la prose vernaculaire anglaise, on se penche ici sur les stratégies discursives et paratextuelles déployées par Holland dans sa traduction des livres de l’Histoire Naturelle traitant de botanique et de médecine. En reprenant et élargissant la définition des paratextes offerte par Genette comme des espaces liminaires où l’auteur – ou en l’occurrence le traducteur – cherche à se mettre en scène et à contrôler les modalités de lecture de l’oeuvre, on explore ici les différents aspects du projet de traduction de Holland visant à « divulguer les mystères » de la botanique médicinale de Pline à un lectorat élargi. Alors que les préfaces aux deux volumes de la traduction rassemblent sous un même discours de l’utilitas le lectorat hétéroclite ostensiblement visé par Holland (écoliers, lecteurs profanes, mais aussi érudits et médecins), une lecture plus fine des notes marginales dans les livres XIX à XXVII de la traduction montre aussi le souci du traducteur d’intégrer la tradition européenne de commentaire érudit dénonçant les erreurs factuelles, herméneutiques et méthodologiques entachant le projet encyclopédique de Pline. On suggère ici que la tension ainsi créée entre texte et paratexte, et entre les préfaces et les autres formes d’inscription paratextuelle à l’oeuvre dans la traduction de Holland, reflète les mutations profondes que connaissent les milieux humanistes et scientifiques anglais dans leur rapport à la science antique et leur conception même de la nature du savoir scientifique à l’aube du XVIIe siècle.
Mots-clés :
- Pline,
- histoire naturelle,
- Philemon Holland,
- traduction,
- paratextes
Parties annexes
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