Piecing Together the Fragments
Translating Classical Verse, Creating Contemporary Poetry
Published on 26. September 2013
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-0-19-958509-0 (ISBN)
Description
In Piecing Together the Fragments, translator and poet Josephine Balmer examines the art of classical translation from the perspective of the practitioner. Positioning her study within the long tradition of translator prefaces and introductions, Balmer argues that such statements should be considered as much a part of creative writing as literary theory. From translating Sappho and other classical women poets, as well as Catullus and Ovid, to her poetry collections inspired by classical literature, Balmer discusses her relationship with her source texts and uncovers the various strategies and approaches she has employed in their transformations into English. In particular, she reveals how the need for radical translation strategies in any rendition of classical texts into English can inspire the poet/translator to new poetic forms and approaches. Above all, she considers how, through the masks or personae of ancient voices, such works offer writers a means of expressing dangerous or difficult subject matter they might not otherwise have been able to broach.
A unique study of the challenges and rewards of translating classical poetry, this volume explores radical new ways in which creativity and scholarship might overlap - and interact.
A unique study of the challenges and rewards of translating classical poetry, this volume explores radical new ways in which creativity and scholarship might overlap - and interact.
Reviews / Votes
provides a clear illustration of how the classics can still be alive and relevant for modern readers and creative writers. This book will be highly relevant to all those interested in any aspects of poetry, translation and the classics, and the intersection between them. * Jennifer Ingleheart, Translation Studies * This is a fascinating, instructive and eminently readable book, and an important contribution to reception and translation studies. It is also a wonderful introduction to the poetAcs own poetry by the poet herself ... a star in her own right. * Marguerite Johnson, Bryn Mawr Classical Review * Ground-breaking ... from a researcher who has long been a major player within translation studies ... should appeal to a wide audience within the creative writing and academic fields of classics and translation studies. * Journal of Classics Teaching * This is an important book which establishes translation as a unique field of literary work, a work that combines learning, judgment, and creativity. * Barbara H. Wyman, The Classical Journal Online * Piecing Together the Fragments is a rich and thoughtful study, of use to anyone interested in time, words and people. * Aisha Farr, Oxford Poetry * In Piecing Together the Fragments Balmer composes a tour de force exemplification of the scholarly rigor that translation entails. Balmer breaks new ground: whereas translators of modern languages have written books on the subject of translation, translators of classical literature have not done so, until now. * James Bradley Wells, Hermathena *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 147 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
486 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-958509-0 (9780199585090)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Josephine Balmer
Piecing Together the Fragments
Translating Classical Verse, Creating Contemporary Poetry
E-Book
09/2013
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€71.99
Available for download
Person
Josephine Balmer is a poet and translator. Her translations and collections include Sappho: Poems & Fragments (1982, 1986 & 1992), Classical Women Poets (1996), Catullus: Poems of Love and Hate (2204), Chasing Catullus (2004), and The Word for Sorrow (2009). A former Chair of the British Translators' Association and advisor to the British Centre for Literary Translation at the University of East Anglia, she has also written widely on poetry and classical translation for publications such as the Observer, the Independent on Sunday, the TLS, the New Statesman, and The Times.
Content
PREFACE; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; PART ONE: CLASSICAL TRANSLATION AND TRANSLATOR STATEMENTS; PART TWO: CLASSICAL TRANSLATION AND DEAD LANGUAGES; PART THREE: CLASSICAL TRANSLATION AND RESEARCH; PART FOUR: TRANSLATION AND CREATIVITY; IN CONCLUSION: BREAKING DOWN THE BOUNDARIES; BIBLIOGRAPHY; INDEX