Translation, Poetics and the Stage

"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.