Transfer Thinking in Translation Studies

Innovative and interdisciplinary approach to transfer
The concept of transfer covers the most diverse phenomena of circulation, transformation and reinterpretation of cultural goods across space and time, and are among the driving forces in opening up the field of translation studies. Transfer processes cross linguistic and cultural boundaries and cannot be reduced to simple movements from a source to a target (culture or text). In a time of paradigm shifts, this book aims to explore the potential and interdisciplinary power of transfer as a concept and an analytical tool to account for complex cultural dynamics.

The contributions in this book adopt various research angles (literary studies, imagology, translation studies, translator studies, periodical studies, postcolonialism) to study an array of entangled transfer processes that apply to different objects and aspects, ranging from literary texts, legal texts, news, images and identities to ideologies, power asymmetries, titles and heterolingualisms. By embracing a process-oriented way of thinking, all these contributions aim to open the ‘black box’ of transfer in the widest sense.

Contributors: Susan Bassnett (University of Glasgow / University of Warwick), Pieter Boulogne (KU Leuven), Andrew Chesterman (University of Helsinki), Yves Chevrel (Sorbonne University / University Ştefan cel Mare), Dirk Delabastita (University of Namur), Yves Gambier (University of Turku), Maud Gonne (University of Namur / UCLouvain), Ramunė Kasperavičienė (Kaunas University of Technology), Dainora Maumevičienė (Kaunas University of Technology), Reine Meylaerts (KU Leuven / University of Bloemfontein), Jean-Marc Moura (University of Paris Nanterre), Isabelle Nières-Chevrel (Rennes 2 University), Christina Schäffner (Aston University), Michael Schreiber (University of Mainz), Luc van Doorslaer (University of Tartu / Stellenbosch University)

This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).

Introduction: Transfer thinking in translation studies: Playing with the black box of cultural transfer Maud Gonne & Reine Meylaerts
Reclaiming the past: Translations from the Anglo-Saxon for the twenty-first century Susan Bassnett
From Britain to Brussels and back again: On the transfer of national images and linguistic interactions in Charlotte Brontë’s The Professor and its first Dutch and French translations Dirk Delabastita & Maud Gonne
The figure of the translator in two Francophone African classics Jean-Marc Moura
Short remarks about titles: Translation, transfer… and trade Yves Chevrel & Isabelle Nières-Chevrel
Transfer in news translation Christina Schäffner
Russian bears on the move, or how national images are transferred Pieter Boulogne & Luc van Doorslaer
Legal transfer and translation: The translation of legal and administrative texts in Flanders and Northern Italy during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic period Michael Schreiber
Language and translation policies in state-building processes: The case of Lithuania Dainora Maumevičienė, Ramunė Kasperavičienė & Yves Gambier
Transfer troubles Andrew Chesterman

About the editors About the authors Index

Maud Gonne

Maud Gonne is FNRS postdoctoral fellow in translation studies at University of Namur and UCLouvain.

Klaartje Merrigan

Klaartje Merrigan holds a PhD in translation studies from KU Leuven.

Reine Meylaerts

Reine Meylaerts is full professor of comparative literature and translation studies at KU Leuven.

Heleen van Gerwen

Heleen van Gerwen holds a master's degree in Western literature and a PhD in translation studies from KU Leuven.