Books across borders: German-English literary translation in the contemporary German and Anglo-American contexts

<p>This thesis examines discourses and practices surrounding German-English translated books in the contemporary German and Anglo-American contexts, focusing on works published as trade fiction. It thereby provides the chronological extension to an existing line of studies that evaluate the production and reception of German-English literary translations in the second half of the twentieth century: notably, the survey volumes by Uta Kreuter (1985), Mark Rectanus (1990a) and, more recently, Wiebke Sievers (2007) who concludes her assessment period in 1999.Continuing the investigation into the twenty-first century, the present thesis combines research into new developments in selected focal territories – Germany, the UK and US – with an enquiry into the contemporary relevance of political and other borders in the circulation of German-English translated books. It thus offers an up-to-date account of activities for German-English translation in these territories; at the same time, it contributes to sociologically oriented scholarship on a methodological and theoretical level. The period under consideration is notable in two key respects. First, it coincides with technological innovations that are transforming the book business and calling into question existing communications paradigms (Bhaskar 2013). Assessing the impact of these innovations, the thesis examines changing licensing, publishing and retail practices for German-English translated books and evaluates the role of institutional and other frameworks in the circulation of literary products and texts. Second, activities for the translation of literature in the UK and US have proliferated since the early 2000s, indicating a need to move beyond Lawrence Venuti’s diagnosis of an Anglo-American disregard for translated literature (1995), which provides the backdrop for Sievers’s account of German-English translation in the UK (2007). Accordingly, the thesis considers German-English translated books in the context of this upsurge in projects to celebrate translation in the UK and US, and explores the intersection of activities for translation into English with programmes sponsored by intermediaries in Germany to promote the translation of German-language works. The advancement of the thesis through the ‘macro, mezzo and micro’ levels of analysis serves, on the one hand, to illuminate different aspects of German-English literary translation and, on the other, to interrogate models for sociological translation research (Sapiro 2008). The investigation begins with an analysis of accounts of global translation production, revealing deficiencies in proposed mappings of translational activity and highlighting the deployment of statistical data on book translation for polemical or promotional ends. Drawing on original fieldwork and primary sources, it then considers publishing practices and support programmes for German-English translation in the UK and US, and examines the translational fortunes of selected German-language books and their UK and US editions, thereby connecting with current scholarship on the Anglo-American book business (Thompson 2012) and with research in German Studies associated with the ‘transnational’ paradigm (Taberner 2011a).</p>

Books across borders: German-English literary translation in the contemporary German and Anglo-American contexts

<p>This thesis examines discourses and practices surrounding German-English translated books in the contemporary German and Anglo-American contexts, focusing on works published as trade fiction. It thereby provides the chronological extension to an existing line of studies that evaluate the production and reception of German-English literary translations in the second half of the twentieth century: notably, the survey volumes by Uta Kreuter (1985), Mark Rectanus (1990a) and, more recently, Wiebke Sievers (2007) who concludes her assessment period in 1999.Continuing the investigation into the twenty-first century, the present thesis combines research into new developments in selected focal territories – Germany, the UK and US – with an enquiry into the contemporary relevance of political and other borders in the circulation of German-English translated books. It thus offers an up-to-date account of activities for German-English translation in these territories; at the same time, it contributes to sociologically oriented scholarship on a methodological and theoretical level. The period under consideration is notable in two key respects. First, it coincides with technological innovations that are transforming the book business and calling into question existing communications paradigms (Bhaskar 2013). Assessing the impact of these innovations, the thesis examines changing licensing, publishing and retail practices for German-English translated books and evaluates the role of institutional and other frameworks in the circulation of literary products and texts. Second, activities for the translation of literature in the UK and US have proliferated since the early 2000s, indicating a need to move beyond Lawrence Venuti’s diagnosis of an Anglo-American disregard for translated literature (1995), which provides the backdrop for Sievers’s account of German-English translation in the UK (2007). Accordingly, the thesis considers German-English translated books in the context of this upsurge in projects to celebrate translation in the UK and US, and explores the intersection of activities for translation into English with programmes sponsored by intermediaries in Germany to promote the translation of German-language works. The advancement of the thesis through the ‘macro, mezzo and micro’ levels of analysis serves, on the one hand, to illuminate different aspects of German-English literary translation and, on the other, to interrogate models for sociological translation research (Sapiro 2008). The investigation begins with an analysis of accounts of global translation production, revealing deficiencies in proposed mappings of translational activity and highlighting the deployment of statistical data on book translation for polemical or promotional ends. Drawing on original fieldwork and primary sources, it then considers publishing practices and support programmes for German-English translation in the UK and US, and examines the translational fortunes of selected German-language books and their UK and US editions, thereby connecting with current scholarship on the Anglo-American book business (Thompson 2012) and with research in German Studies associated with the ‘transnational’ paradigm (Taberner 2011a).</p>

‘Infinite Kindness’

A new kind of topographical writing about English village life in the 1820s established conventions for writing about provincialism that would be widely adopted in Anglophone writing throughout the century. Invented by the writer Mary Russell Mitford as a response to her financial precarity, it consisted of short, inconsequential narratives about places and characters in her own village, linked by a female narrative voice distinctive for its intimate mode of address. Despite appearing to be nostalgic in its representation of village life, this style of writing constituted a complex and significant response to global modernity and the kinds of mobility that it brought. It introduced a mode of long-distance intimacy which appealed to readers and writers who had made transoceanic journeys, and represented a way of inhabiting village space as though it were a new settlement. Published serially in a magazine, the stories were frequently reprinted. They were pirated in America, where Mitford nurtured an enthusiastic following through developing a personal network of correspondents. Her relationship with the American publisher J. T. Fields, was mutually beneficial in developing lucrative new readerships for her work, and in helping to consolidate Ticknor and Fields’s position at the forefront of the American book trade. Mitford’s village provided a frame in which to imagine transatlantic literary culture. Between the 1820s and the 1850s, the idea of the literary village transformed from being a place of fugitive living to a conservative and conserving idea of transatlantic accord in the context of settler colonialism.

‘A singular gesture’: Zachary Thomas Dodson on the potential of design in fiction

Zachary Thomas Dodson is an American book designer who is particularly interested in exploring the visual possibilities of narrative. He is the co-founder of the Chicago-based press Featherproof Books (2005) and the author of Bats of the Republic: An Illuminated Novel (2015) in addition to an earlier novel, Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring Boring (2008), under the pseudonym Zach Plague. In this interview, Dodson discusses the role of design in literary production and highlights the potential of typography, page layout and non-verbal elements such as maps to constitute integral parts of a literary narrative. Relating his work to earlier as well as to contemporary instances of visual experimentation with narrative, Dodson comments on his inspirations and influences while manifesting promising paths for literary production and the publishing industry. In the second part of the interview, Dodson discusses the intricacies and challenges of working on Bats of the Republic as both author and designer, and reveals his intentions with regard to his next book project.

Blind men and the elephant: one view of the field of migration studies

There are many ways to conceive and represent the field of migration studies. The CrossMigration article provides us with a broad overview to help us understand and contribute to the field’s development. This article explores a number of additional and complementary views drawn from the field-building activities of the Social Science Research Council between 1994 and 2014. (Source: Charles Maurice Stebbins & Mary H. Coolidge, Golden Treasury Readers: Primer, American Book Co., New York, 1909, p. 89. For the story of the “Blind Men and the Elephant,” see pp. 87-91: https://books.google.com/books?id=_dIAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA89#v=onepage&q&f=false:)