Chapter 35
Tragedy and Translation
Phillip John Usher,
Phillip John Usher
Search for more papers by this authorPhillip John Usher,
Phillip John Usher
Search for more papers by this authorBook Editor(s):Sandra Bermann,
Catherine Porter,
Sandra Bermann
Search for more papers by this authorCatherine Porter
Search for more papers by this authorSummary
Beginning with the idea that literature is spectral, unheimlich, and quasi-necromantic, this essay asks how the heroes of ancient tragedy actually speak to us – in what language, via which translators. After an introductory section about a recent Arabic-language production of Antigone in France, attention is focused on the earliest moment when Greek tragedy was reworked in a new language, in ancient Rome. The case of Seneca's Stoic adaptations is discussed. Attention then turns to another context: politicizing translations of ancient tragedy in the Renaissance. Drawing on these insights, discussion turns to ways in which this awareness of translation in our reading of tragedy reveals the hermeneutic problems posed by specific verses. The essay closes with a call for a closer affiliation between translation studies and literary scholarship.
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