Licenciatura em Tradução 2018-19

Semester II

Programme: History of Translation

Taught by: Karen Bennett (kbennett@fcsh.unl.pt)

Class A: Monday and Wednesday (2pm-4pm) Room: B2 82
Class B: Monday and Wednesday (4pm-6pm) Room: B2 82
Office Hours: Wed.10 -12 am Office: TA 203

Aims:
This course provides an overview of the history of translation within the Western
tradition from its earliest manifestations in Antiquity through to the middle of the 20 th
century. It aims to give a sense of both the perennial questions facing translators in all
periods, and particular issues deriving from certain specific socio-political and cultural
contexts. Special attention will be given to role played by translation in the development
of national cultures, transmission of knowledge, and in provoking social change, as well
as to particular individuals (translators and theorists) that have marked the history of
translation in some way.
An important secondary aim will be to develop students’ analytical abilities
through practical activities that encourage independent thinking and critical
engagement with texts and ideas. For this reason, a number of lessons will be devoted
to practical criticism of translations in their historical context, and of theoretical writings
about translation. Help will also be provided with study skills such as research methods,
essay writing and textual analysis.

Teaching Method:
Where possible, the teaching will be student-centred, involving textual analysis, group
discussion, problem-solving and task-based activities, supplemented by mini-lectures
for the purpose of contextualization. Students will be asked to do reading and on-line
research in their own time in preparation for the lessons.

Materials:
Materials will be supplied by the teacher and will be available for download on Moodle.
Students must bring the materials to the lesson in either printed or electronic format.
Assessment:
i. One written assignment to be done half-way through the course (40%)
ii. One test to be done in class on the last day of lessons (60%)

Syllabus:
Introductory Module:
 General introduction
 Introduction to practical criticism
Module 1. Antiquity:
 Introduction to Bible translation
 Cicero and the Rhetorical Tradition
 Jerome
Module 2. The Middle Ages:
 Medieval translation theory
 The Schools of Toledo and Baghdad
 The Wyclife Bible
 Translation and the development of the printing press
Module 3. The Early Modern period:
 Early Modern translation theory
 Early Modern Bibles
 Joachim du Bellay and La Pléiade
Module 4. 17th and 18th centuries
 French Neoclassicism and the belles infidèles
 Sir John Denham (translation as propaganda)
 John Dryden
Module 5. The 19th century
 German Romanticism
 The Newman-Arnold Controversy
Module 6. The first half of the 20th century
 The Hermeneutic Tradition
 E.V. Rieu and the Penguin Classics
General Bibliography (* available in the faculty library)

Anthologies:
Readers are anthologies of key texts compiled specifically for students. There are a
number of such readers available for translation history:

 Lefevere, A. (1992). Translation, History, Culture: A Sourcebook. London and New

York: Routledge
 Robinson, D. (2002) Western Translation Theory from Herodotus to Nietzsche,
Manchester: St Jerome
 Schulte, R. & Biguenet, J. (1992) Theories of Translation: an Anthology of Essays
from Dryden to Derrida, Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press.
 *Weissbort, D. & Eysteinssen, A. (eds), (2006) Translation – Theory and Practice:
A Historical Reader. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press

History Books:
 Ballard, Michel (2007). De Ciceron à Benjamin: traducteurs, traductions,
réfléxions. Villeneuve d’Asque: Presses Universitaires de Septentrion
 *Bassnett, S. (1991/1980). Translation Studies, Rev. Edition. London and New
York: Routledge.
 *Deslisle, J. & J. Woodsworth (ed) (2012). Translators through History. Revised
edition. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins
 D´hulst, Lieven (1990). Cent ans de théorie française de la traduction: de Batteux
à Littré (1748-1847). Lille: Presses Universitaires de Lille.
 *Hayes, J. C (2009). Translation, Subjectivity & Culture in France and England,
1600-1800. California: Stanford U.P.
 Kelly, Louis. (1979) The True Interpreter: A History of Translation Theory and
Practice in the West. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
 *Montgomery, S. (2000). Science in Translation: Movements of Knowledge
through Cultures and Times. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
 Rener, Frederick (1989). Interpretatio: Language and Translation from Cicero to
Tytler. Amsterdam/Atlanta: Rodopi.
 *Steiner, G. (1998/1975) After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation.
Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.
 *Venuti, L. (1995). The Translator´s Invisibility: A History of Translation. London
& New York: Routledge.