Abstract
Within the framework of Translation Studies, much consideration has been given to the role recipients play in a translation process. However, a number of important questions arise in this regard when considering the translation of texts that are culturally and historically distant. In this contribution, I will explore the challenge of translating medieval Icelandic sagas, to demonstrate how crucial it is that translations of such texts be carried out not only with the supposed public in mind, but also by valorizing the cultural and historical specificities of the source-texts themselves. Examples will be drawn from my own recent experience of translating Áns saga bogsveigis into Italian (Saga of Án the Archer), an Old Icelandic fornaldarsaga (Legendary saga) written at the end of the fifteenth century.
Highlights
Within the framework of Translation Studies, much consideration has been given to the role recipients play in a translation process
Since the emergence of Descriptive Translation Studies in the ’70s and ’80s, and especially with their development by Gideon Toury in the ’90s, descriptivism and target-orientation have entered the mainstream of Translation Studies
The analysis will be guided by my own recent experience of translating Áns saga bogsveigis into Italian (‘Saga of Án the Archer’), an Old Icelandic fornaldarsaga (‘Legendary Saga’) written at the end of the fifteenth century
Summary
Since the emergence of Descriptive Translation Studies in the ’70s and ’80s, and especially with their development by Gideon Toury in the ’90s, descriptivism and target-orientation have entered the mainstream of Translation Studies (cf. Holmes 2000; Toury 1980, 1995). Among the specific problems arising in the reading and interpreting of medieval works are the wide cultural and temporal gaps, and the variability and the dynamism characterising both the contexts of production and transmission of such texts. Still, this offers both a challenge and an opportunity to translators. It allows for multiple interpretive paths to be followed Considering these aspects, the translation of a medieval text in contemporary times should be understood as both a reconstruction and a rewriting process, consisting in the attentive recreation of a source-text and of its context into a linguistic and cultural target-context. The analysis will be guided by my own recent experience of translating Áns saga bogsveigis into Italian (‘Saga of Án the Archer’), an Old Icelandic fornaldarsaga (‘Legendary Saga’) written at the end of the fifteenth century
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