Charting the Future of Translation History

Over the last 30 years there has been a substantial increase in the study of the history of translation. Both well-known and lesser-known specialists in translation studies have worked tirelessly to give the history of translation its rightful place. Clearly, progress has been made, and the history of translation has become a viable independent research area. This book aims at claiming such autonomy for the field with a renewed vigour. It seeks to explore issues related to methodology as well as a variety of discourses on history with a view to laying the groundwork for new avenues, new models, new methods. It aspires to challenge existing theoretical and ideological frameworks. It looks toward the future of history. It is an attempt to address shortcomings that have prevented translation history from reaching its full disciplinary potential. From microhistory, archaeology, periodization, to issues of subjectivity and postmodernism, methodological lacunae are being filled. Contributors to this volume go far beyond the text to uncover the role translation has played in many different times and settings such as Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Middle-east and Asia from the 6th century to the 20th. These contributions, which deal variously with the discourses on methodology and history, recast the discipline of translation history in a new light and pave the way to the future of research and teaching in the field.The editors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through a grant to the XVIIth Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Translation Studies (CATS), from which the papers for this volume are drawn. They also acknowledge the financial and intellectual support of CATS and warmly thank Jean Delisle for his precious collaboration.1. Blank Spaces in the History of Translation (Julio-César Santoyo) 2. The Impact of Postmodern Discourse on the History of Translation (Paul F. Bandia) 3. Conceptualizing the Translator as a Historical Subject in Multilingual Environments: A Challenge for Descriptive Translation Studies? (Reine Meylaerts) 4. Microhistory of Translation (Sergia Adamo) 5. Perspectives on the History of Interpretation: Research Proposals (Jesús Baigorri-Jalón) 6. Subjectivity and Rigour in Translation History: The Latin American Case (Georges L. Bastin) 7. Translation, History and the Translation Scholar (Clara Foz) 8. Literalness and Legal Translation: Myth and False Premises (Claire-Hélène Lavigne) 9. The Role of Translation in History: The Case of Malraux (Marilyn Gaddis Rose) 10. Puritan Translations in Israel: Rewriting a History of Translation (Nitsa Ben-Ari) 11. Ideologies in the History of Translation: A Case Study on Canadian Political Speeches (Chantal Gagnon) 12. Keepers of the Stories: The Role of the Translator in Preserving Histories (Jo-Anne Elder) 13. “Long Time No See, Coolie”: Passing as Chinese through Translation (James St. André) 14. The Imperial College of Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco: The First School of Translators and Interpreters in Sixteenth-Century Spanish America (Lourdes Arencibia Rodriguez) 15. Glosas croniquenses: A Synchronic Bilingual (American Indigenous Languages–Spanish) Set of Glossaries (Lydia Fossa) 16. Translating the New World in Jean de Léry’s Histoire d’un voyage fait en la terre du Brésil (Christine York) 17. The Amadis of Gaul (1803) and The Chronicle of the Cid (1808) by Robert Southey: The Medieval History of Spain Translated (Juan Miguel Zarandona