The Translation Studies Reader [Paperback]

Lawrence Venuti (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 041531920X | ISBN-13: 978-0415319201 | Publication Date: August 15, 2004 | Edition: 2

The Translation Studies Reader provides a definitive survey of the most important and influential developments in translation theory and research, with an emphasis on twentieth-century developments. With introductory essays prefacing each section, the book places a wide range of seminal and innovative readings within their thematic, cultural and historical contexts.
This second edition of this classic reader has been fully revised and updated. Venuti has also extended the selection to include key pre-twentieth-century texts, adding a historical dimension. Other new readings expand the range of theoretical discourses and practical applications covered, exploring the influence of translation studies beyond its traditional boundaries, in fields such as philosophy, sociology and film studies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'This is bound to be the most authoritative anthology of theoretical reflection on translation currently available in English. The selection of primary documents is varied and imaginative, the editorial introductions lucid and informed.'
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–Theo Hermans, University College London, UK

'This updated, greatly expanded Translation Studies Reader will prove indispensable to scholars, translators and students. The volume's judicious selections provide a comprehensive history of translation from antiquity to the present and the terms of translation theory are critically assessed through a rich topography of subjects. As translation emerges as a focal point in the era of digital literacy and new media, Lawrence Venuti's Reader offers an invaluable index to defining the past and future task of the translator.'
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–Emily Apter, New York University, USA

About the Author

Larry Venuti, professor of English at Temple University, USA, is a translation theorist and historian as well as a translator.

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 2 edition (August 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 041531920X
• ISBN-13: 978-0415319201
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars outstanding work, July 24, 2005

By 

Anne Gillingham - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Translation Studies Reader (Paperback)

Lawrence Venuti and his advisory editor, Mona Baker, made excellent choices of articles to showcase, in the ¨Translation Studies Reader.¨

They organize the book in chunks, and present an introduction to each era. These mini-essays summarize the period, integrating their choices of theorists as examples of how language and meaning were understood over the course of the 20th century. They also give more than ample bibliographic references.

In general they choose well-known cultural and linguistic theorists, and the most widely-read essays, but there are some exceptions. They also, especially as they move away from the 1950's and progressivly into 1990's, begin to cover recent political and critical concerns.

The book covers a wide range of translation theory. It spans from Benjamin's ''task of the translator'' to more structually focused processes and systems of the 1960's and '70's, to the more post-1980's issues of gender, complexities of meaning, identity, film studies and the role of language in fostering understanding between communities.

The essays I will leave to the imagination but I will go ahead and outline the table of contents.

1900-1930's: Walter Benjamin, Ezra Pound, Jorge Luis Borges, Jose Ortega and Gasset

1940s-1950s: Vladimir Nabokov, Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet, Willard V.O. Quine, Roman Jakobson

1960s-1970s: Eugene Nida, J.C. Catford, Jiri Levy, Katharina Reiss, James S. Holmes, George Steiner, Itmar Even Zohar, Gideon Toury

1980s: Hans J. Vermeer, Andre Lefevere, William Frawley, Philip E. Lewis, Antoine Berman, Shoshana Blum-Kulka, Lori Chamerbain

1990's: Annie Brisset, Ernst-August Gutt, Gayatri Spivak, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Basil Hatim and Ian Mason, Keith Harvey, Lawrence Venuti

For anybody interested in the linguistic dimension of the history of ideas, linguistics, translation studies, or cultural studies, this book is a wonderful addition to your library.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful for beginning translators!, March 4, 2008

By 

C. McAllister - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Translation Studies Reader (Paperback)

Excellent textbook that helps to explain many of the different theories of translation, but it doesn't go into much detail on any particular one. Good first-step into the field of translation!

5.0 out of 5 stars Very useful and comprehensive, March 7, 2011

By 

Descalzi Sgarbi Fabio "Fabio Descalzi" (Montevideo, Uruguay) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Translation Studies Reader (Paperback)

If you are interested in translation studies and need quick reference, you can find what you need.
I received this book just three days before holding a seminar for beginners in translation studies. I read and underlined the articles I found most useful, and they were of great help.