Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting

The aspiration of an Atlas is to cover the whole world, by compiling cartographical material representing territories from across the five continents. This book intends to contribute to that ideally comprehensive, yet always unfinished, Atlas with pieces gathered from all of the Earth’s regions. However, its focus is not so much of a geographical nature (although maps and geographical reflections are not absent in its pages), but of a historical-analytical one. As such, the Atlas engages in the historical analysis of interpreters (of both language and cultures) in multiple interpreting settings and places, including in zones which are less frequently studied in specialized literature, in different historical periods and at various scales. All the interpreters described in the book share the ability to speak two or more languages and to use them as vehicles; otherwise, their individual socio-professional statuses vary so much that there is no similarity between a Venetian dragoman in Istanbul and a prisoner of war, or between a locally-recruited interpreter and a missionary. Each contributor has approached the specific spatial and temporal dimensions of their subject as perceived through their different methodological lenses. This multifaceted perspective, which is expected to provide fertile soil for future interdisciplinary research, has been possible thanks to a balanced combination of scholars from History and from Translation and Interpreting Studies.

Alina Pelea, Babes-Bolyai University, in Studia UBB Philologia LXIX, 1 (2024).:
This volume is important for future research as it manages to put history in the context of present-day preoccupations, thus establishing links between the past and the present that can be relevant for the challenges the profession is facing. The methodological approach, with social and humanities scientists using the tools of their “trade” to tackle interpreting-related topics, along with the extensive bibliography of each contribution are noteworthy. Overall, the volume is a very useful read for researchers in a whole range of fields (from diplomacy to colonial studies, from psychology to law), as well as interpreting trainers and trainees.