Translation, poetics, and the stage six French hamlets

• Main Author: Heylen, Romy 1957- (Author)
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: London Routledge 1993
• Series: Translation studies
• Subjects: Shakespeare > 1564-1616 > William > Stage history > France; Poetics; English drama > Translations into French > History and criticism; Drama > Translations > History and criticism
• Online Access: Click Here to View Status and Holdings.

 "Translation, Poetics and the Stage" establishes an analytical model for the description of existing translations in their historical context within a framework suggested by systemic concepts of literature. Previous 20th-century theories of translation are overly narrow in scope since they revolve around pre-established criteria of "equivalence" and should be replaced by an approach which describes translation in historical-relative and socio-cultural terms. The book argues against mainstream 20th-century translation theory which, on the whole, has been text-book orientated. By proposing a socio-cultural model of translation, the author takes into account how a translation functions in the receiving culture. The case studies of successive translations of "Hamlet" in France from the eighteenth century neoclassical version of Jean-Francois Ducis to the 20th-century Lacanian, post-structuralist stage production of Daniel Mesguich show the translator at work. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of the changing theatrical and literary norms to which translators through the ages have been bound by the expectations both of their audiences and the literary establishment.