《translation and power-recent theoretical updates》.pdf

SIRI NERGAARD (Università degli Studi di Firenze) Translation and power: recent theoretical updates Summary. In recent studies on translation the concept of power has become cen- tral. In the present paper I will present the evolution of the concept in translation theory and I will present the book Translation and Power, focused on the power turn that has taken place in the discipline. I will finally advance some hypotheses on how the concept of power might be perti- nent for the study of the translation of medieval texts. 1. Introduction In this paper I will try to give some theoretical updates of what is happening inside the discipline of Translation Studies today, hoping that some concepts can be useful for the work that the philological research group is under- taking. As an outsider – a non philologist, a non specialist in your field – I am em- barrassed, but also honoured to contribute in this forum. I am impressed by the interesting use you are making of concepts and theoretical approaches in translation studies, and since you all demonstrate to be so well informed on what is going on in the field in which I find myself, my only choice is to pre- sent something recent that you might not yet have had access to. I will limit my contribution to a sort of presentation of some issues proposed in a new book on translation I find particularly interesting – in my opinion the most important one published in the last years. I will discuss these issues and con- sider how and why I think they might also be useful for the study of the translation of medieval texts. 2. Rewriting and Manipulation In my contribution at the previous conference on medieval translation in Bergamo (2004), I dedicated the first part to the concept of rewriting and es- pecially to how André Lefevere has developed it in Translation Theory. In m