Translators and Their Other Professions
Subject Area
Translation Studies
Abstract
Translation scholars move between disciplines, bridging fields such as politics, history, and literary scholarship. Practicing translators, too, constantly research a wide range of topics in order to more completely understand the source texts. They also tend to exercise agency as cultural liaisons in other capacities, as reviewers, critics, editors, editorial advisers, literary agents, researchers, teachers, or authors. These other professions inform their work as translators. This paper will examine the intersections between translation and the other work translators do, studying the various ways in which translators curate canons and influence cultural exchange. The analysis will center on the work of Harriet de Onís, a prolific translator from Spanish and Portuguese into English who published approximately forty book translations (fiction and non-fiction) in the U.S. between 1930 and 1969. De Onís was so influential that Chilean writer José Donoso claimed that she “controlled the sluices of the circulation of Latin American literature in the United States and by means of the United States throughout the whole world.” De Onís worked as an editor as well as a translator. She altered or abridged some of the texts she translated, at times in collaboration with authors. In addition, she edited anthologies, gave lectures, wrote reviews, and worked as a literary scout and editorial adviser for the influential publishing house Alfred A. Knopf. The analysis of de Onís’s work allows for a broader reflection on the ways in which translators´ other professions shape their work as translators, and vice versa.
Brief Bio Note
Victoria Livingstone has a PhD in Hispanic Literature from Boston University and is currently a Visiting Research Associate at Furman University.
Keywords
Translation, Latin America, Harriet de Onís
Location
Room 212
Presentation Year
2017
Start Date
3-24-2017 3:45 PM
Embargo
11-3-2016
Recommended Citation
Livingstone, Victoria, "Translators and Their Other Professions" (2017). South East Coastal Conference on Languages & Literatures (SECCLL). 66.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/seccll/2017/2017/66
Translators and Their Other Professions
Room 212
Translation scholars move between disciplines, bridging fields such as politics, history, and literary scholarship. Practicing translators, too, constantly research a wide range of topics in order to more completely understand the source texts. They also tend to exercise agency as cultural liaisons in other capacities, as reviewers, critics, editors, editorial advisers, literary agents, researchers, teachers, or authors. These other professions inform their work as translators. This paper will examine the intersections between translation and the other work translators do, studying the various ways in which translators curate canons and influence cultural exchange. The analysis will center on the work of Harriet de Onís, a prolific translator from Spanish and Portuguese into English who published approximately forty book translations (fiction and non-fiction) in the U.S. between 1930 and 1969. De Onís was so influential that Chilean writer José Donoso claimed that she “controlled the sluices of the circulation of Latin American literature in the United States and by means of the United States throughout the whole world.” De Onís worked as an editor as well as a translator. She altered or abridged some of the texts she translated, at times in collaboration with authors. In addition, she edited anthologies, gave lectures, wrote reviews, and worked as a literary scout and editorial adviser for the influential publishing house Alfred A. Knopf. The analysis of de Onís’s work allows for a broader reflection on the ways in which translators´ other professions shape their work as translators, and vice versa.