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Perspectives
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Reviews
Marilyn Gaddis Rose a
a
State University of Binghamton, New York, USA

Online Publication Date: 20 June 2006

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 79

REVIEWS
The reviews are ordered alphabetically according to the names of authors or
editors.
Hung, Eva (ed.). 2005. Translation and Cultural Change. Studies in history, norms and im-
age-projection. (Benjamins Translation Library 61). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Ben-
jamins. 193 pp. ISBN 90 272 1667 3 (Eur); 1 58811 627 1 (US). Price (Hb.): 99.00 Euros;
119.00 USD.

It has long been known that translation is not so much a cross-linguistic as a cross-
and transcultural event. It is also well-established that translations, including poor ones,
significantly contribute to the cultural development of countries and linguistic commu-
nities. What may be less obvious is that such notions as ‘translation’ and ‘culture’ are not
static, precisely defined, as given, homogeneous categories, but multifaceted and some-
what fuzzy ones, which reflect the concerns, preferences, and aspirations of their host
cultures. Are pseudo-translations part of a nation’s culture? And how about cultural
borderlands and transitions? Can the activity of missionaries change the cultural land-
scape of a country? These questions emerge even more distinctly when we leave behind
the well-established Anglo-European tradition, stop seeking shelter in our more or less
precisely defined terminology and try to explore what we find in Asia, investigating the
impact of the spread of Western culture and Christianity on the cultures of the Far East,
particularly China and Japan.
These and similar issues were addressed at the ‘International Conference on Culture
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and Translation’ in 1999. The editor of the current volume, Eva Hung (the Chinese Uni-
versity of Hong Kong), has put together a small and fine selection of the talks present-
ed. She notes in her introduction that translation and interpreting are most probably
as old as mankind itself, yet the scholarly investigation and systematic study of them
began only in the second half of the 20th century. Translation has traditionally played
an important role in second-language learning, and the translation of religious texts has
highlighted the significance of some cultural aspects. The editor’s Preface is followed by
eleven papers divided into four thematic parts.
The first part, Translation as an agent for change, looks at translations as agents of change.
Gideon Toury’s article, “Enhancing cultural changes by means of fictitious translations”
shifts the focus from the translated text to the relationship between translations and the
cultures that generate them. He investigates the role of translations and pseudo-transla-
tions in cultural planning. Using Afrikaans Bible translation for exemplification, Jacobus
A. Naudé discusses how the translation of religious texts affects cultural change. Eva
Hung’s own “Cultural borderlands in China’s translation history”, is of special interest
to Western readers. The three articles in the second part, Cultural perception and transla-
tion, focus on the relationship between translation, national cultures and identities, while
the third and the fourth parts, The Japanese experience, and Case studies from China, explore
the impact of translations (of both fiction and non-fiction) on their respective reader-
ships
This collected volume leads us to several conclusions. First, we are urged to re-evalu-
ate some of the concepts that may seem so self-evident to us, such as ‘identity’, ‘national
culture’, ‘cultural boundaries’, etc. We have to realize that ‘culture’ is a broader, more
fuzzy, and more fluid notion in the East than in the West. Consequently, cultural tradi-
tions play a more important role and influence the reception of a piece more in Japan
or China than in Western countries. Research conducted under the label of ‘translation
studies’, as well as translations themselves are largely influenced by the cultural envi-
ronment, the dominant ideology and the social structures, defining the space available
for the translator, who “is often faced with culturally sensitive material, cultural and
ideological preferences and taboos”. These articles make readers familiar with Western
translation theory wonder whether the well-established and central issues in the disci-
pline, such as equivalence, textual faithfulness, understanding, and interpretation, have
the same function and carry the same meaning in an Oriental context as they do in the
West.

Sándor Albert,
University of Szeged,
Hungary.

**********
 80 2006. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 14: 1
Kristal, Efraín. 2002. Invisible Work. Borges and Translation. Vanderbilt University Press:
Nashville, Tennessee. 213 pp. ISBN 0-8265-1408-1. Price: $27.20 US.
Kristal has performed an inestimable service for scholars of Jorges Luis Borges
and Translation Studies. Although Borges’s skill as a translator and his use of the con-
vention of translation have long been noted, Kristal may well be the first to collate and
comment upon all of Borges’s translations, mentions of translation, and use of transla-
tion in fiction, both acknowledged and “plagiarized.” In addition, Kristal has been
exhaustive in consulting innumerable (if not all) references other scholars have made
to Borges and translation. His references to Translation Studies scholarship are more
selective but adequate.
Where Kristal is at his best and most original is in his critiques of Borges’s
translations of major authors: Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, Angelus Silesius, and
Snorri Sturluson. Here Kristal’s own method is exemplary (and an impressive tour de
force). For Whitman and Poe (as well as for other English authors Borges translated)
Kristal makes careful juxtapositions of respective passages of content and accommodat-
ingly back-translates Borges into English to show the changes. Borges unhesitatingly
“improved” originals by excisions, so that the features he considered more important
would not be obscured. By gender shifts, for example, he made Whitman’s homoeroti-
cism more subtle. With Silesius’s 17th-century German Kristal juxtaposes his own literal
translation with back-translations of Borges, and with Sturluson’s 13th-century Norse,
Kristal juxtaposes Jesse Byock’s translation with back-translations of Borges. In all in-
stances, Borges tightened the narrative. With Franz Kafka, Borges was both “student”
and translator; Kristal assembles a poignant chronology of Borges’s increasing humility
and appreciation towards the Czech author. Discussion of the often cited “Pierre Men-
ard, Author of the Quixote” is limited to 12 paragraphs in the final chapter.
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Given the specialist audience of such a monograph, there are some curious
redundancies. For example, Kristal states his purpose eight times in his “Introduc-
tion,” twice in his “Conclusion,” and once in his “Afterword.” Each of his three sec-
tions ends with an abstract of what has been said, and throughout information that was
used earlier and/or will be used later is repeated. His “Acknowledgments” thank six
graduate students for assembling the data, and those thanked for counsel on style may
be responsible for this excess of clarity.

Marilyn Gaddis Rose,

State University of Binghamton (New York),
USA.