Welcome Intrusions: Capturing the Unexpected in Translators’ Prefaces to Dante’s Divine Comedy

Authors

  • Marella Feltrin-Morris

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25071/1925-5624.40348

Abstract

As part of an ongoing research project, this essay examines a number of translators’ prefaces to Dante’s Divine Comedy, summarizing recurring patterns and then focusing on deviations from the norm. The majority of these prefaces tend to follow a script, particularly in the case of retranslations of classical texts, which require an acknowledgment of past translations, a homage to the authority of the source text and a display of the translator’s expertise. However, occasional detours from the predictable constellation of themes deserve closer scrutiny, since they give a more authentic voice to the individuals who engaged with the text in its deepest form, not merely within the confines of a prescriptive formula, but expanding the potential of this unique space towards new avenues of discovery.

References

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Published

2018-11-28

How to Cite

Feltrin-Morris, M. (2018). Welcome Intrusions: Capturing the Unexpected in Translators’ Prefaces to Dante’s Divine Comedy. Tusaaji: A Translation Review, 6(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.25071/1925-5624.40348

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