Constructing a Sociology of Translation.pdf
Constructing a Sociology of Translation.pdf
Constructing a Sociology of Translation.pdf
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Between sociology and history 195or disqualify previous work and substitute new models to former theories, but toopen up alternative interpretations equally plausible simultaneously. In translationstudies more than in any discipline, past or new, it is essential, in my opinion,to develop the prospect <strong>of</strong> a method pliable to multiple angles <strong>of</strong> interpretation.Specifically, those interpretations ought not to be seen in “either/or” exclusionaryterms but in the context <strong>of</strong> mutually compatible frames <strong>of</strong> understanding wheredifference is the result <strong>of</strong> distinct historical traditions.The case I will be briefly addressing here had rarely been studied when I setout to work on it: Graf (1911), Collison-Morley (1916), Crinò (1932), Rosa (1964),Petrone Fresco (1993) together make up 35 pages <strong>of</strong> evaluative criticism. A littleknownfigure <strong>of</strong> the Senese cultural scene, Domenico Valentini (1688?-1762) wasthe author <strong>of</strong> the first complete translation <strong>of</strong> Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in Italian.His translation was also the first complete one <strong>of</strong> the Shakespearian corpusin Italy and the second one in Europe after von Borck (1704–1747), the Prussianambassador to Britain, initiated the long journey <strong>of</strong> European Shakespearesin London in 1741 (see Bertana 1901: 73). Valentini’s version was published inLucca on the printing presses <strong>of</strong> Agostino Bindi in 1756 (Valentini 1756). He wasalready an aged man, with little to show to his credit – a mere collection <strong>of</strong> shortessays and discourses in Latin and Italian and <strong>of</strong> translations from authors <strong>of</strong> thepre-Enlightenment period.All things considered, the case seems as a-typical as can be, resisting conceptualtreatment along the lines <strong>of</strong> any “theoretical” approach to translationand, for that reason, challenging generalization. The author had had substantialexperience in circulating foreign works in Italian, all <strong>of</strong> them from the Englishlanguage. 2 This was “Übersetzung aus zweiter Hand” in von Stackelberg’s words(1984), i.e. through the mediation <strong>of</strong> existing French translations, following or-2. See the second part <strong>of</strong> his collected works printed two years before his Giulio Cesare (Valentini1754). Twelve copies <strong>of</strong> this rare volume were printed (see Pecci Scrittori senesi. ms. atthe Biblioteca Comunale di Siena). Two only survive, one in Lucca at the Biblioteca Statale nelConvento Santa Maria Nera, the other at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna. I amgrateful to Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Mario Rosa for providing me with this precious information shortly aftermy personal copy <strong>of</strong> the Raccoltà was destroyed. The intermediary translations included in thevolume were from Simon Ockley’s Vita di Maometto, based on a French translation (1748) <strong>of</strong>The History <strong>of</strong> the Saracens (1708–1718); a series <strong>of</strong> Caratteri from Temple Stanyan’s GrecianHistory (1739), translated by Diderot in 1742; several chapters from the Spectator <strong>of</strong> Steele etAddison again translated out <strong>of</strong> their French version, Le spectateur ou le Socrate moderne; andan extract <strong>of</strong> Samuel Shuckford’s The Sacred and Pr<strong>of</strong>ane History <strong>of</strong> the World Connected fromthe Creation <strong>of</strong> the World to the Dissolution <strong>of</strong> the Assyrian Empire at the Death <strong>of</strong> Sardanapalus,and to the Declension <strong>of</strong> the Kingdoms <strong>of</strong> Judah and Israel under the Reigns <strong>of</strong> Ahaz and Pekah(1727), translated into French in 1752.