Theatre Translation: Theory and Practice

Description

Translation for the theatre is often considered to hold a marginal status between literary translation and adaptation for the stage. As a result, this book argues that studies of this complex activity tend to take either a textual or performative approach. After exploring the history of translation theory through these lenses, Massimiliano Morini proposes a more totalizing view of 'theatre translation' as the sum of operations required to transform one theatre act into another, and analyses three complex Western case histories in light of this all-encompassing definition. Combining theory with practice, Morini investigates how traditional ideas on translation - from Plautus and Cicero to the early 20th century - have been applied in the theatrical domain. He then compares and contrasts the inherently textual viewpoint of post-humanistic translators with the more performative approaches of contemporary theatrical practitioners, and chronicles the rise of performative views in the third millennium. Positioning itself at the intersection of past and present, as well as translation studies and theatre semiotics, Theatre Translation provides a full diachronic survey of an age-old activity and a burgeoning academic field.

Massimiliano Morini is Associate Professor of English Linguistics and Translation at the University of Urbino, Italy.

Massimiliano Morini's book is an inspiring, provocative, and stirring intervention into the comfortable waters of theatre translation. I am very grateful for this book and am looking forward to the debate it will engender. * Theatrialia * Praise is, however, due to Morini for his unwavering clarity and nearly-as-unwavering accessibility of language to those not immersed within the field of translation studies or those hoping to dip into the discipline from the outside. ... Ultimately, I commend Morini's view of and hopes for the future of theatre translation and the theoretical structures that, at different turns, support, constrain, and propel it forward. * The Mercurian * This useful book explores the current state of the art of theatre translation. Morini introduces the history of translating for the theatre both in theory and practice and offers a working definition and a methodology for studying theatre translation that will be helpful to students both of translation and theatre. * Susan Bassnett, Professor, University of Glasgow, Scotland. * Massimiliano Morini's study is the first book-length account of the history, theory and methodology of theatre translation. It is a highly informative and reliable guide to the evolution of theatrical translation studies from text-centred to performance-based approaches. The result is both a lucid text and a persuasive rhetorical performance. * Keir Elam, Alma Mater Professor of English Literature, University of Bologna, Italy *