A thread through the archive
Essays tagged “translation theory”. Follow an idea across the archive.
A detailed exploration of The Tale of Genji (circa 1000 CE), arguing against its supposed accessibility while demonstrating the extreme cultural alienness of Heian-era Japan's Imperial Court through discussions of aesthetics, hierarchy, gender segregation, relationship customs, poetry, and translation challenges.
A review of Thomas Urquhart's 17th-century English translation of Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel, told through the tragicomic life story of the translator - a Scottish aristocrat who failed at everything except creating this masterpiece of baroque English prose.
Scott explores cultural translation by reimagining Xi Jinping's life as that of a fictional American president, Jason Shea, and reflects on the challenges of this creative exercise.