Cart
Several essays explore the practical and ethical challenges of cross-cultural transfer. "Adequacy and acceptability in cross-cultural communication" presents a crucial dilemma for the translator: should the translation aim for "adequacy" to the source text and culture (often through foreignization), or for "acceptability" to the target culture's norms (through domestication)?
The book was originally published in 1990 (with a revised edition following). It emerged at a specific historical moment: the fall of the Berlin Wall, the rise of postcolonial theory, and a growing dissatisfaction with prescriptive translation rules. Bassnett and Lefevere realized that translation history was not just a history of errors or stylistic choices; it was a history of cultural influence and manipulation.
The most decisive moment came with the 1990 essay collection Translation, History and Culture , co-edited by Bassnett and André Lefevere. This volume announced the “cultural turn” as a formal research agenda. Key concepts introduced or consolidated include: translation history and culture susan bassnett pdf
“Translation is, of course, a rewriting of an original text. All rewritings, whatever their intention, reflect a certain ideology and a poetics and as such manipulate literature to function in a given society in a given way.”
The book’s physical format is a modest one: published by Cassell in London, the paperback edition contains VIII, 133 pages [6†L22-L23][6†L20]. It has since been described as a varied collection of essays that reflects this monumental ideological shift [0†L8-L12][7†L5-L9]. Several essays explore the practical and ethical challenges
Here are the most reliable and ethical ways to access the text:
Bassnett insists that translation history must go beyond “high” literary texts to include: It emerged at a specific historical moment: the
the concept of "cultural translation" in anthropology and literature. Susan Bassnett - Translation Studies - UniCA
Offering tools that are equally useful to historians, sociologists, and literary critics.
, where many of her papers on the "Cultural Turn" are hosted.
By embracing the idea of translation as a cultural act of rewriting, we can better appreciate the complex, often political, nature of cross-cultural communication. If you'd like, I can: