Translation Poetics and the Stage

<p>This book establishes an analytical model for the description of existing translations in their historical context within a framework suggested by systemic concepts of literature. It argues against mainstream 20th-century translation theory and, by proposing a socio-cultural model of translation, 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.</p> <p>Preface Introduction: A Cultural Model of Translation 1. Jean-François Ducis' <i>Hamlet, Tragédie imitée de l'Anglois</i>: A Neoclassical Tragedy? 2. Alexandre Dumas and Paul Meurice's <i>Hamlet, Prince de Danemark</i>: Translation as an Exercise in Power 3. Marcel Schwob and Eugène Morand's <i>La Tragique Histoire d'Hamlet</i>: A Folkloric Prose Translation 4. The Blank Verse Shall Halt For't: André Gide's <i>La Tragédie d'Hamlet</i> 5. Yves Bonnefoy’s <i>La Tragédie d’Hamlet</i>: An Allegorical Translation 6. Theatre as Translation/Translation as Theatre: <i>Shakespeare's Hamlet</i> by the Théâtre du Miroir. Concluding Remarks. Appendix: Table of Selected <i>Hamlet</i> Productions</p>