In the one hundred and ten years covered by volume four of The Oxford History of Literary Translation in English, what characterized translation was above all the move to encompass what Goethe called 'world literature'. This occurred, paradoxically, at a time when English literature is often seen as increasingly self-sufficient. In Europe, the culture of Germany was a new source of inspiration, as were the medieval literatures and the popular ballads of many lands, from Spain to Serbia. From the mid-century, the other literatures of the North, both ancient and modern, were extensively translated, and the last third of the century saw the beginning of the Russian vogue. Meanwhile, as the British presence in the East was consolidated, translation helped readers to take possession of 'exotic' non-European cultures, from Persian and Arabic to Sanskrit and Chinese. The thirty-five contributors bring an enormous range of expertise to the exploration of these new developments and of the fascinating debates which reopened old questions about the translator's task, as the new literalism, whether scholarly or experimental, vied with established modes of translation. The complex story unfolds in Britain and its empire, but also in the United States, involving not just translators, publishers, and readers, but also institutions such as the universities and the periodical press. Nineteenth-century English literature emerges as more open to the foreign than has been recognized before, with far-reaching effects on its orientation.

Since publication over ten years ago, The Translator’s Invisibility has provoked debate and controversy within the field of translation and become a classic text. Providing a fascinating account of the history of translation from the seventeenth century to the present day, Venuti shows how fluency prevailed over other translation strategies to shape the canon of foreign literatures in English and investigates the cultural consequences of the receptor values which were simultaneously inscribed and masked in foreign texts during this period. The author locates alternative translation theories and practices in British, American and European cultures which aim to communicate linguistic and cultural differences instead of removing them. In this second edition of his work, Venuti: clarifies and further develops key terms and arguments responds to critical commentary on his argument incorporates new case studies that include: an eighteenth century translation of a French novel by a working class woman; Richard Burton's controversial translation of the Arabian Nights; modernist poetry translation; translations of Dostoevsky by the bestselling translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky; and translated crime fiction updates data on the current state of translation, including publishing statistics and translators’ rates. The Translator’s Invisibility will be essential reading for students of translation studies at all levels. Lawrence Venuti is Professor of English at Temple University, Philadelphia. He is a translation theorist and historian as well as a translator and his recent publications include: The Scandals of Translation: Towards an Ethics of Difference and The Translation Studies Reader, both published by Routledge.

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