A "Shocking" or a "Moving" Scene?: The Need for a More Critical Approach to Teaching Literature in Translation

A "Shocking" or a "Moving" Scene? : The Need for a More Critical Approach to Teaching Literature in Translation

Liljegren, Lars, 1966- (author): Linköpings universitet,Avdelningen för språk, kultur och interaktion,Filosofiska fakulteten

(creator_code:org_t)

2020-10-04
2020
English.
In: Educare. - Malmö : Malmö högskola. - 1653-1868 .- 2004-5190. ; :3, s. 77-108

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Abstract Subject headings

I argue that there needs to be agreater critical awarenessinparts ofthe academic world as regards the useof literary translations published at a time of state censorship.Using the first English translations ofAugust Strindberg’sGiftas(1884;1886) andI havsbandet(1890) as a case in point, this paper demonstratestheextent to which translations of books whose content clashed with theBritishObscene PublicationsAct 1857 deviated from their source texts, oftenon the very points that made the books and their authorsfamous. Although there are more recent and uncensored translations available today, the old and censoredtranslations of“provocative”authors such as Strindberg, Zola and Flaubert often outnumber more recentones on the market, sometimes under the guise of being “Scholar’s Choice” editions. I will demonstratethatseveralliterary scholars quote and refer to censored translations,eventothe censored passagesthemselves,andthatsomeuse them in academic coursesfocussing onthevery aspects that were censored.I therefore suggest thatit should be made mandatory forallcoursesdealing with translated literaturetoinclude critical discussions on the use of translations.

About the subject

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