The Medieval Translator

These studies of the theory and practice of translation in the Middle Ages show a wide range of translational practices on texts which range from anonymous Middle English romances and Biblical commentaries to the writings of Usk Chaucer and Malory. Included among them is a paper on a hitherto unknown woman translator Dame Eleanor Hull; a paper which compares a draft translation with its fair copy to show how its translator worked; a paper which shows how the mystic Rolle sought to 'translate' his heightened spiritual experiences into words; and so on. In a medieval translation the general priority of meaning over form and style enabled even obliged the translator to act more like an author than like a scribe. Consequently the study of medieval translation throws important light on contemporary attitudes to and understandings of fundamental literary questions: for example and most importantly that of the role of the author.