Customer Reviews

The Scandals of Translation: Towards an Ethics of Difference

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a break-through in the field of translation studies. Venuti is outspoken, theory-savvy but accessible. He takes an important step toward a more interdisciplinary approach to translation studies. He tackles a range of problems that haunt translation: copyright, global publishing politics, but most importantly, the hegemony of the communicative approach (he calls it, in my view unfairly, the "linguistics" approach) in translation studies. The book has a good balance of theory, politics, and analysis of concrete literary translations.

While I may not agree with everything Venuti has to say, I see his main contribution in opening up an important debate. For this reason, I gave the book a full score.

This book is extramly practical for all translators touching on subjects like copyrights and globalization. The relationship Author-Translator- Culture is thoroghly covered. My immediate sensation after finishing reading this book was to take action, and to help improve the status of a translator who is usually seen as secondary to author.