Agents of translation

Agents of translation. Ed. by John Milton and Paul Bandia. (Benjamins translation library 81.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2009. Pp. vi, 337. ISBN 9789027216908. $143 (Hb).

Reviewed by Taras Shmiher, Ivan Franko National University in L’viv, Ukraine

The present collection examines the concept of agency in translation studies where agents—mediators between a translator and an end user of a translated text—stimulate major historical, literary, and cultural changes through translation. Its agents either influence changes in translation style, broadening the philosophical borders of a language and its society, or perform their specific cultural and political role. Patronage, power, and habitus are the key conditions and factors of producing cultural artifacts, raising national consciousness, and changing literary tastes. The thirteen essays included in this volume uncover various facets of relations between these factors in a global outlook, as they are written by scholars who study agency in literatures of Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America.

Latin American polysystem is most discussed by the contributing researchers. Georges L. Bastin highlights the life and acts of Francisco de Miranda, the major agent of translation during the late eighteenth through the early nineteenth century. The author hypothesizes how the real role, played by translation in the subcontinent, contributed to the emancipation movement and the creation of a national and continental identity and culture. Maria Eulália Ramicelli presents the French magazine Revue Britannique as an important transmitter of British ideas and cultural norms for Brazilian fiction writers. The relationship between national literary production and translation in the twentieth century Argentina and Brazil are studied in the chapters by Lisa Rose Bradford and by Thelma Médici Nóbrega and John Milton, respectively.

Denise Merkle considers the significance of the publishing house Vizetelly & Company for modernizing the publishing industry in late-Victorian Britain. The publishers introduced inexpensive translated and original editions to the British market, but they greatly suffered from Victorian censorship as well. Carol O’Sullivan’s essay discusses the work of another Victorian publisher, Henry G. Bohn, who was a pioneer in popularizing translated classics for the general market and private circulation.

Among other European literatures, Outi Paloposki compares the daily routines and decision-making of two Finnish translators, Karl Gustaf Samuli Suomalainen (nineteenth century) and Juhani Konkka (twentieth century). The author describes the process of selecting books for translation, the use of source texts and versions, typographical design, and fees in order to demonstrate the limitations of Finnish translators to choose the content of their work. Christine Zurbach analyzes the activities of a special group of theater translators in Portugal from 1975–1988. Francis R. Jones explores Anglophone translations of poetry by post-war Bosnian writers.

Studying the translation activity of Ahmed Midhat and translation discourse in the Ottoman culture of the late nineteenth century, Cemal Demircioğlu reveals the foundations of dynamism in Ottoman writing, publishing, and journalism, as well as shows the mediator in conveying Western culture to Ottoman society. Şehnaz Tahir-Gürçağlar focuses on the prominent twentieth century Turkish politician Hasan-Âli Yücel, whose activities are a valuable tool for investigating the historiography of culture and translation.

The chapter by Akiko Uchiyama discusses Fukuzawa Yukichi’s translations from other non-Western literatures that significantly impacted the nineteenth century Japanese reader’s perception of these cultures. He is regarded both as a proponent of civil liberties, independent thought, and egalitarian humanism and as a supporter of Japan’s aggression towards neighboring Asian countries.

African milieu is described by Paul Bandia in his essay on Cheikh Anta Diop, who tried to establish a historical and cultural connection between ancient Egypt and Black Africa by deciphering hieroglyphs and Meroitic script into a modern writing.

Finally, the volume includes notes on contributors and an index of names, titles, and subjects.