Perché I Medici Parlano Ancora Il Greco?

Although the extraordinary progress in medicine since the 19th century has made Hippocrates and Galen irrelevant, Greek and Greek-derived terms continue to be used in the medical sciences today. The marked ability of the Greek language to form compounds facilitated the expansion of its medical lexicon. Greek medicine evolved far longer than its modern counterpart; its enduring cachet has lent it an atemporality. This article traces the main stages in the history of the nearly continuous reception of Greek medical nomenclature across more than two millennia. The process is shown to have been inseparable from the transmission and editing of Greek medical texts and their translation into Latin, Arabic, and eventually into vernacular languages. The article also sheds incidental light on the history of translation and transliteration in Europe and the Arab world.

“Twice Bitten”

In the 1995 preface to Translators through History (Delisle and Woodsworth, 1995), Jean-François Joly, President of the International Federation of Translators, quotes a line by Antoine Berman: “The construction of a history of translation is the first task of a modern theory of translation” (Berman 1992, 1). He elaborates as follows: “Constructing a history of translation means bringing to light the complex network of cultural exchanges between people, cultures and civilizations through the ages. It means drawing a portrait of these import-export workers and attempting to unravel their deep-rooted reasons for translating one particular work instead of another. It means finding out why their sponsors (kings, aristocrats, patrons, high-ranking clergy, etc.) asked them to translate a given work. It means taking into account what the translators themselves have written about their work, its difficulties and constraints.” This paper, as the title suggests, attempts to draw a portrait, based on the documents and letters1 exchanged by the translators themselves, of the collaboration between two translators working on one translation, the Hawkes-Minford Story of the Stone, otherwise known as The Dream of the Red Chamber. The true and complete story can never be known by outsiders, like us, the readers. But through this paper, we can “hear” and “read” the voices of the translators, the publisher and other informants. Let history speak.

García Márquez in China

This article studies the history of the introduction and translation of Gabriel García Márquez’s works into contemporary China. Based on thoroughly exploring each key step in the process of translation and reception of his works—including selection of source texts, adoption of translation strategies, identity of translators, criticisms of translation, and the arguments over the key concepts—the article disinters the differences of cultural contexts among various historical periods in which García Márquez was introduced and accepted in China. This article is composed of five parts. The first part gives an overview of the history of translation and reception of García Márquez in China. Part two elaborates on the paradox of the Chinese version of “magic(al) realism,” which is widely used in Chinese contemporary literature. Part three is an exposition of the impact of García Márquez being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and the myth of the impact of the Latin American Boom on Chinese literature in the 1980s. Part four deeply discusses why the works of García Márquez are deemed “new classics” in China in the twenty-first century, despite having been left out in the 1990s. Part five concludes that the description of the history of translation of García Márquez for four decades not only uncovers how the global publishing market and the system of literary criticism managed by the West influence Chinese translated literature, but also reveals the ideological conflicts in China since the 1980s.

The prose works of Antonio Machado in Russia

The subject of this research is the history of translation the prose works of the remarkable Spanish poet, writer and publicist Antonio Machado into the Russian language. The object of this research is the translations of his prose works into the Russian languages conducted primarily in the last quarter of the XX century. The article employs biographical, descriptive, and cultural-historical methods. Special attention is given to Spanish translators I. Y. Tynyanov and V. S. Stolbov, whose names in the Russian literary space are closely related with the history of translation of the works of the prose writer and publicist Antonio Machado. The scientific novelty lies in the detailed description of A. Machado's prose, as well as detailed chronology of the emergence of translations of his prose into the Russian language. The relevance of this article substantiated by the absence of comprehensive analysis of the translations of A. Machado's prose works in the Russian Spanish studies. The prose works of A. Machado are also poorly studied in the Russian literary studies. The main conclusions consists in determination of the contribution of Russian translators to familiarization of the Russian-speaking audience with prose works of the Spanish author, as well as the need for further fundamental research of the entire literary heritage of Antonio Machado.

Seweryn Pollak as a Translator of Boris Pasternak’s Works: From the History of Translations from Russian into Polish

The article presents Seweryn Pollak as a translator of Boris Pasternak’s works from Russian into Polish with respect to his translation practice expertise. Pollak’s interests included not only the history of the Polish reception of translated Russian literature, but also the theory and history of translation. The article attempts to reconstruct Pollak’s perspective on the art of translation and its main categories such as style, versifi cation, choice or evaluation criteria

Périphéries vs centres : le cas de la traductologie en Finlande

The article analyzes the history of translation studies (TS) in Finland from its beginnings to the present with the help of the polysystem theory, while also examining the impact of various individuals and communities on the development of the Finnish TS tradition. My analysis indicates that the “centrality” of Finnish researchers in translation studies — which was particularly visible before the discipline went global in the 2010s — can be explained by some general trends in European higher learning, but even more than that by the strong relations that Finnish translation scholars have had with local translation professionals, international colleagues, and, last but not least, each other.

Translation and Study of I. A. Krylov’s Works in China

В статье прослеживается история перевода и распространения в Китае басен И. А. Крылова — первого русского писателя, чьи произведения были переведены на китайский язык, широко известны и распространены в Китае. Сравниваются прозаические и стихотворные переводы басен И. А. Крылова в разные периоды, анализируются также состояние и перспективы крылововедения в Китае. Krylov is the first Russian writer whose work was translated into Chinese. Krylov’s fables are widely known and spread in China. This article traces the history of translation and publication of Krylov's fables in China, compares prosaic and poetic translations in different periods. The status and prospects of the study of Krylov in China are also analyzed.