Introduction

The most important and productive statements on the translation of literature from Roman times to the 1920s are collected in this book. Arranged thematically around the main topics which recur over the centuries - power, poetics, universe of discourse, language, education - it contains texts previously unavailable in English, and translated here for the first time from classical, Medieval, and Renaissance Latin, from French and from German.

As the first survey of its kind in both scope and selection it argues that translation commands a central position in the shaping of European literatures and cultures.

Framework and Significance

Translation/History/Culture creates a framework for further study of the history of translation in the West by tracing European historical thought about translation, and discussing the topicality of many of the texts included.