The Culture of Translation in Early Modern England and France, 1500-1660

"This collection explores the varied modalities and cultural interventions of translation in early modern England and France. Paying attention to the shared parameters of these two translation cultures, it argues for their interaction as an important and untold story. The essays touch on key figures in this story - Mary Sidney, Montaigne and Florio, Urquhart and Rabelais - but also probe the role of translation in the large cultural shifts experienced in parallel by the two countries. Topics explored include: the galvanizing impact of Greek and Hebrew on the two translation cultures; translation's guises in the humanist practice of France and England; as definition of national difference; as a broker of state diplomacy; as a tool for sceptical philosophy; and as a means of imagining a linguistic utopia. The essays' scope ranges from methodological reflections toward a cultural history of early modern translation, to the adventures of a sceptical adverb between France and England"--