The first complete translation of a fascinating piece of Czech literature. The virgin martyr St Catherine was one of the pre-eminent and most popular saints in the Middle Ages, her legend spreading far and wide throughout Europe. A Bohemian version of her Vita was written in the second half of the fourteenth century, probably for the court of Emperor Charles IV in Prague; it is a fascinating account of her life and passion, with many unique features. However, partly because of the language barrier, it has received relatively little attention. This book provides the first complete translation of this important text. It is accompanied by a full, interdisciplinary introduction, which places the legend in its cultural and historical context, and emphasizes both the importance of the Dominican friars as court writers and the prominence of royal and noble women as patrons and consumers of their work. It also highlights the numerous representations of Catherine in contemporary art. Meanwhile, elucidatory notes to the translation illuminate its most important features.
Praise for the previous edition of the Encyclopedia of Translation Studies: 'Translation has long deserved this sort of treatment. Appropriate for any college or university library supporting a program in linguistics, this is vital in those institutions that train students to become translators.' – Rettig on Reference 'Congratulations should be given to Mona Baker for undertaking such a mammoth task and...successfully pulling it off. It will certainly be an essential reference book and starting point for anyone interested in translation studies.' – ITI Bulletin 'This excellent volume is to be commended for bringing together some of [its] most recent research. It provides a series of extremely useful short histories, quite unlike anything that can be found elsewhere. University teachers will find it invaluable for preparing seminars and it will be widely used by students.' – The Times Higher Education Supplement ' ... a pioneering work of reference ...'– Perspectives on Translation The Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies has been the standard reference in the field since it first appeared in 1998. The second, extensively revised and extended edition brings this unique resource up-to-date and offers a thorough, critical and authoritative account of one of the fastest growing disciplines in the humanities. The Encyclopedia is divided into two parts and alphabetically ordered for ease of reference. Part One (General) covers the conceptual framework and core concerns of the discipline. Categories of entries include: central issues in translation theory (e.g. equivalence, translatability, unit of translation) key concepts (e.g. culture, norms, ethics, ideology, shifts, quality) approaches to translation and interpreting (e.g. sociological, linguistic, functionalist) types of translation (e.g. literary, audiovisual, scientific and technical) types of interpreting (e.g. signed language, dialogue, court). New additions in this section include entries on globalisation, mobility, localization, gender and sexuality, censorship, comics, advertising and retranslation, among many others. Part Two (History and Traditions) covers the history of translation in major linguistic and cultural communities. It is arranged alphabetically by linguistic region. There are entries on a wide range of languages which include Russian, French, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese and Finnish, and regions including Brazil, Canada and India. Many of the entries in this section are based on hitherto unpublished research. This section includes one new entry: Southeast Asian tradition. Drawing on the expertise of over 90 contributors from 30 countries and an international panel of consultant editors, this volume offers a comprehensive overview of translation studies as an academic discipline and anticipates new directions in the field. The contributors examine various forms of translation and interpreting as they are practised by professionals today, in addition to research topics, theoretical issues and the history of translation in various parts of the world. With key terms defined and discussed in context, a full index, extensive cross-references, diagrams and a full bibliography the Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies is an invaluable reference work for all students and teachers of translation, interpreting, and literary and social theory. Mona Baker is Professor of Translation Studies at the University of Manchester, UK. She is co-founder and editorial director of St Jerome Publishing, a small press specializing in translation studies and cross-cultural communication. Apart from numerous papers in scholarly journals and collected volumes, she is author of In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation (Routledge 1992), Translation and Conflict: A Narrative Account (2006) and Founding Editor of The Translator: Studies in Intercultural Communication (1995), a refereed international journal published by St Jerome since 1995. She is also co-Vice President of the International Association of Translation and Intercultural Studies (IATIS). Gabriela Saldanha is Lecturer in Translation Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK. She is founding editor (with Marion Winters) and current member of the editorial board of New Voices in Translation Studies, a refereed online journal of the International Association of Translation and Intercultural Studies, and co-editor (with Federico Zanettin) of Translation Studies Abstracts and Bibliography of Translation Studies.
This collection presents-through the medium of translated sources-a comprehensive guide to the development of hagiography and the cult of the saints in western Christendom during the middle ages. It provides an unparalleled resource for the study of the ideals of sanctity and the practice of religion in the medieval west. Intended for the classroom, for the medieval scholar who wishes to explore sources in unfamiliar languages, and for the general reader fascinated by the saints, this collection provides the reader a chance to explore in depth a full range of writings about the saints (the term hagiography is derived from Greek roots: hagios=holy and graphe=writing). The thirty-six chapters contain sources either in their entirety or in selections of substantial length. The great majority of the texts have never previously appeared in English translation. Those which have appeared in earlier translation, are here presented in versions based on significant new textual and historical scholarship which makes them significant improvements on the earlier versions. All the translations are accompanied by introductions, notes, and suggestions for further reading in order to help guide the reader. The first selections date to the fourth century, when the ideals of Christian sanctity were evolving to meet the demands of a world in which Christianity was an accepted religion and when the public veneration of relics was growing greatly in scope. The last selections date to the period immediately prior to the Reformation, a period in which the traditional concept of sanctity and acceptability of de cult of relics was being questioned. In addition to numerous works from the clerical languages of Latin and Greek, the selections include translations from Romance, Celtic, Germanic, and Slavic vernacular languages, s well as Hebrew texts concerning the martyrdom of Jews at the hands of Christians. Originating in lands from Iceland to Hungary and from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, they are taken from a full range of the many genres which constituted hagiography: lives of the saints, collections of miracle stories, accounts of the discovery or movement of relics, liturgical books, visions, canonization inquests, and even heresy trials.
Ten chapters examine aspects of medieval Czech literature, with particular emphasis on women readers and subjects and the influence of the church. Individual manuscripts examined include The Dalimil Chronicle , The Ointment Seller , The Legend of Saint Procopius , The Life of St Catherine , The New Council and The Weaver, The Wycliffite Woman and The Dispute between Prague and Kutná Hora .
Although Chaucer is typically labeled as the "Father of English Literature," evidence shows that his work appealed to Europe and specifically European women. Rereading the Canterbury Tales , Thomas argues that Chaucer imagined Anne of Bohemia, wife of famed Richard II, as an ideal reader, an aspect that came to greatly affect his writing.
Writing Plague: Language and Violence from the Black Death to COVID-19 brings a holistic and comparative perspective to “plague writing” from the later Middle Ages to the twenty-first century. It argues that while the human “hardware” has changed enormously between the medieval past and the present (urbanization, technology, mass warfare, and advances in medical science), the human “software” (emotional and psychological reactions to the shock of pandemic) has remained remarkably similar across time. Through close readings of works by medieval writers like Guillaume de Machaut, Giovanni Boccaccio, and Geoffrey Chaucer in the fourteenth century, select plays by Shakespeare, and modern “plague” fiction and film, Alfred Thomas convincingly demonstrates psychological continuities between the Black Death and COVID-19. In showing how in times of plague human beings repress their fears and fantasies and displace them onto the threatening “other,” Thomas highlights the danger of scapegoating vulnerable minority groups such as Asian Americans and Jews in today’s America. This wide-ranging study will thus be of interest not only to medievalists but also to students of modernity as well as the general reader.
