Hist Trans EN 15

History of Translations

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Abstract

Under different historical background, the modern and contemporary translations in western countries show their different characteristics and traits which cen be concluded from several perspectives.

Keywords

Western translation; translation history; modern; contemperary

Introduction

In this paper, western translation history in modern and contemporary ages will be introduced. Here the modern age refers to the nearly half century before the Second World War. The contemporary age refers to the half century after the Second World War. That is to say, the modern and contemporary translation in this paper refers to the translation in the 20th century. Under different historical background, the modern and contemporary translations show their different characteristics and traits which will be concluded and discussed in detail in the following.

The General Situation of Translation in the Modern Age

Into the 20th century, the capitalism in the developed countries developed into imperialism. On the one hand, the imperialist countries intensified their foreign expansion to oppress and exploit the weak countries and colonial people, while on the other hand, they were engaged in a fierce battle among themselves for international markets and spheres of influence. Thus, in less than half a century, two world wars broke out. Under this historical background, translation in western countries will inevitably be seriously disturbed and destroyed. However, in some specific fields and countries (such as the Soviet Union), the translation of this period also has its own traits, which can be summarized from the following four aspects.

Simplicity, smoothness and accuracy became the translation criterion.

In the translation of classics, translators no longer emphasized the elegant style of the original work, but took the simplicity, smoothness and accuracy as the criterion to measure the translation. Translators not only in France, but also in Britain, Germany, Italy, Russia and other countries began to break the tradition of poetry translation, generally advocating translating the original poem into prose, not into verse; Even when translating the works of the great poets of the past, they did not employ strict rhythm. The popular practice in translation was to translate the original poem into prose using plain language so that the translation can be understood by the reader without annotation. For example, E. Y. Rieu’s translation of Odyssey in 1946 and R. A. Knox’s translation of Bible in 1948 were typical popular translations.

The emphasis of translation was clearly on modern and contemporary literature, especially Russian and Nordic works.

From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, the literature of Russia and the Nordic countries developed greatly with the emergence of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Chekhov, Andersen, Ibsen, Strindberg and other world-renowned great writers and dramatists. Their works had attracted the attention of the people in Western Europe and North America so they were competing to learn Russian, Danish and Swedish and had these works translated into English, German and French. In the process of translation, many excellent translators emerged in various countries, among which Garnett is the first to be mentioned.

Translation of Russian literature

Constance Garnet is the most famous female translator in Britain in this century. She translated almost all classic Russian novels and is widely regarded as the most important Translator of translating Russian literature into English.

She published her first translation of Turgenev's novel Ru-Din in 1894. In the following decades, she devoted almost all her energy and time to the translation of Russian literature. She was the first person to translate Turgenev, Dostoyevsky and Chekhov into English, successively translating all the major works of Turgenev, Goncharov, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Gogol and Chekhov including 12 volumes of Dostoyevsky's Selected Works translated from 1912 to 1920, 15 volumes of Turgenev's Selected Works translated from 1894 to 1899, 15 volumes of Chekhov's Novels and Plays translated from 1916 to 1922, and 6 volumes of Gogol’s Selected Works translated from 1922 to 1928. In particular, her translations of Turgenev, Chekhov, Dostoyevsky and other works were widely welcomed by the English reading community, and thus gave rise to the Russian literature craze in English literature before the First World War. She translated 70 Russian works in her lifetime, making her the most prolific translator of Russian works.

Two other translators who did not translate as much from Russian to English as Garnett, but who had no less influence, were the couple——Louise and Aylmer Maude. They are famous in western modern literary circles for their research and translation of Tolstoy's works. From 1928 to 1937, they spent nearly ten years translating and publishing 21 volumes of The Complete Works of Tolstoy. Later, from 1940s to 1950s, they supplemented or retranslated some of Tolstoy's works, such as What I Believe and Resurrection. In 1952, their work of War and Peace was accepted as a standard English translation and was selected for the prestigious Western Classics Series, thus establishing them as the authoritative English translators of Tolstoy.

In addition, R. S. Townsend, R. Edmonds, Samuel Koteliansky, Ethel C. Mayne, Boris Brasol, Richard Renfield and so on were famous for translating the works of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Chekhov, Goncharov into English.

Translation of Nordic literature and drama

In the first half of the 20th century, in addition to Russian literature, western European translators showed great interest in Nordic literature and drama, including the works of Andersen, Ibsen and Strindberg.

When Hans Christian Andersen was alive, one of his works was published simultaneously in 15 languages, including English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and almost all the major languages of Western Europe. Later, all of his works were translated into different languages, and there were many re-translations in English, French, German and other countries. The first English translator was Mary Howitt, who began translating Andersen’s fairy tales in 1846. Later translators include Charles Boner, Caroline Peachey, Lady Duff Gordon, Paul Leyssac, R. R. Keigwin and R. Spink. Some of the best translations are Leyssac’s translation in 1937, Keigwin’s translation from 1950 to 1960 and Spink’s translation.

The main English translators of Ibsen’s plays are William Archer and James MacFarlane. Archer translated 12 volumes of The Collected Works of H. I. from 1906 to 1912, including almost all of Ibsen’s plays and some of his previously unpublished papers. Macfarlane compiled translated eight volumes of The Oxford Ibsen from 1960 to 1977. In addition, F. E. Garrett translated Lyrics and Poems from Ibsen in 1912. Mary Morison translated The Correspondence of H.I. in 1905. Evert Sprinchorn translated H. I. Letters and Speeches in 1964.

In Germany, the standard German translation is The Collected Plays of Ibsen in ten volumes edited and published by G. Brandes, J. Elias, and P. Schlenther from 1898 to 1902. The standard French translation is The Complete Works of Ibsen in 16 volumes translated and published by P. G. la Chesnais from 1914 to 1945.