For all that Cicero is often seen as the father of translation theory, his and other Roman comments on translation are often divorced from the complicated environments that produced them. The first book-length study in English of its kind, Roman Theories of Translation: Surpassing the Source explores translation as it occurred in Rome and presents a complete, culturally integrated discourse on its theories from 240 BCE to the 2nd Century CE. Author Siobhan McElduff analyzes Roman methods of translation, connects specific events and controversies in the Roman Empire to larger cultural discussions about translation, and delves into the histories of various Roman translators, examining how their circumstances influenced their experience of translation.

This book illustrates that as a translating culture, a culture reckoning with the consequences of building its own literature upon that of a conquered nation, and one with an enormous impact upon the West, Rome's translators and their theories of translation deserve to be treated and discussed as a complex and sophisticated phenomenon. Roman Theories of Translation enables Roman writers on translation to take their rightful place in the history of translation and translation theory.

About the Author
Siobhan McElduff is assistant professor of Latin at the University of British Columbia. She is the translator of Cicero: In Defense of the Republic (Penguin Classics, 2011), a selection of Cicero's political speeches, and co-editor of Complicating the History of Western Translation: The Ancient Mediterranean in Perspective (St. Jerome, 2011).

Reviews

"I don't know how we've done without Siobhan McElduff's wonderful book for so long. I wish she had published it fifteen or twenty years ago; my understanding of the historical roots of contemporary translation theory would have been significantly different today. Whoever still believes that classics scholarship is dry as dust will find that stereotype smashed by this congenial, eminently readable book."

- Douglas Robinson, Lingnan University, Hong Kong

"This is a lively, accessible book ... McElduff attends meticulously to rhetorical nuance - close reading at its finest! Highly recommended."

- A.M. Busch, College at Brockport, SUNY, for CHOICE

"By examining translation across several centuries of Roman history, McElduff shows compellingly, how in translation, as in much else, understandings and sensibilities varied among individuals, but also evolved over the generations. McElduff's work is important for the study of Western translation history in general."

- James Hadley, University of East Anglia, UK, for Perspectives: Studies in Translatology

"Students interested in translation will enthusiastically welcome the volume under review, which can be placed alongside other recent achievements in the field. This study certainly succeeds in making sense of Roman translation practices and providing both basic and advanced tools for Latinists interested in the topic."

- Chiara Battistella, Universite de Geneve, Switzerland, for Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Siobhan McElduff's fascinating study of how and why Romans translated may come as a shocking revelation to those of us used to contemporary views on translation, which emphasise an objective faithfulness to the source text.

- Seppo Heikkinen

Book Information
ISBN 9781138243101
Author Siobhan McElduff
Format Paperback
Page Count 266
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g