Old Songs in the Timeless Land: Medievalism in Australian Literature 1840-1910
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Book Series
Making the Middle Ages, vol. 5
- Pages: 221 p.
- Size:165 x 245 mm
- Language(s):English
- Publication Year:2007
- € 55,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-50772-9
- Hardback
- Available
- € 55,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-57242-0
- E-book
- Available
Review(s)
"Its speculation on translation is intriguing, the work is both very readable and has a rich store of information to impart to the reader who has perhaps only a limited knowledge or experience of the world of saga translation. For those who have devoted even a fair amount of thought to the subject, there are still plenty of new insights to be gained here."
(K. Kunz, in Journal of English and Germanic Philology, October 2008, p. 550)
Summary
Few speakers of English have ever been able to read the
Icelandic sagas in the original language, and published saga
translations have played a major role in shaping attitudes towards
Viking Age Scandinavia and the great literary achievements of
medieval Iceland in the English-speaking world. This book is the
first publication to provide an extended examination of the history
and development of Icelandic saga translations into English from
their beginnings in the eighteenth century to today. It explores
reasons for undertaking saga translation, and the challenges
confronting translators. Chapters are devoted to the pioneering
saga translations, the later Victorian and Edwardian eras, the
often-neglected period of the two World Wars and their aftermath,
and the upsurge of saga translation in the second half of the
twentieth century. The contributions of individual translators and
teams are reviewed, from James Johnstone in the 1780s through major
Victorians such as Samuel Laing, George Webbe Dasent, and William
Morris, distinguished twentieth century figures such as Lee M.
Hollander, Gwyn Jones, Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Pálsson,
and George Johnston, and the great co-operative project which
produced The Complete Sagas of Icelanders at the
century’s end. The book concludes with saga translation
facing interesting new possibilities and challenges, not least
those generated by information technology.