From Translating Aristophanes to Composing a Greek Comedy in 16th c. Europe: The Case of Alciato
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Malika Bastin-Hammou
Abstract
There is a long-lasting and early tradition of translating Aristophanes in early modern Europe which is to a large extent due to the fact that his comedies were used to teach ancient Greek. Some of those translations come with paratexts written by the translators which give us precious insight on the reasons why they chose to translate Aristophanes, the difficulty they encountered and the choices they made. This paper analyzes the specificities of this discourse on translating comedy and its evolutions, during the beginning of the 16th c. It shows that while the first Latin translations fall roughly into two categories, ad uerbum and adaptations, a turn occurs with Alciato, who both translated Clouds and wrote an Ancient Comedy in Latin. From them on, especially in the Holy Empire, translators focussed on metre and strived to translate Aristophanes ad uersum, and their paratexts stress how difficult this was.
Abstract
There is a long-lasting and early tradition of translating Aristophanes in early modern Europe which is to a large extent due to the fact that his comedies were used to teach ancient Greek. Some of those translations come with paratexts written by the translators which give us precious insight on the reasons why they chose to translate Aristophanes, the difficulty they encountered and the choices they made. This paper analyzes the specificities of this discourse on translating comedy and its evolutions, during the beginning of the 16th c. It shows that while the first Latin translations fall roughly into two categories, ad uerbum and adaptations, a turn occurs with Alciato, who both translated Clouds and wrote an Ancient Comedy in Latin. From them on, especially in the Holy Empire, translators focussed on metre and strived to translate Aristophanes ad uersum, and their paratexts stress how difficult this was.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Foreword VII
- Contents XI
- List of Figures and Tables XV
- Abbreviations XVII
- Introduction 1
-
Part I: Translating Comedy
- Aristophanes’ Readers and Translators in 15th-Century Italy: The Latin Plutus of MS Matrit. Gr. 4697 17
- From Translating Aristophanes to Composing a Greek Comedy in 16th c. Europe: The Case of Alciato 37
- The Sausage-Seller Suddenly Speaks Vernacular: The First Italian Translation of Aristophanes’ Knights 53
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Part II: Translating Tragedy
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II.1: Scholarly Networks: Translation Models and Functions
- An ‘Origin’ of Translation: Erasmus’s Influence on Early Modern Translations of Greek Tragedy into Latin 69
- Imitation, Collaboration, Competition Between English and Continental Translators of Greek Tragedy 91
- Why Translate Greek Tragedy? Melanchthon, Winsheim, Camerarius, and Naogeorgus 115
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II.2: Proto-National Dynamics and Vernacular Translating
- Translating Ancient Greek Tragedy in 16th- Century Italy 135
- The Italian Translation of Euripides’ Hecuba by Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger (1568–1647) 159
- Sophocles in 16th-Century Portugal: Aires Vitória’s Tragédia del Rei Agaménom 175
- Translating Ancient Greek Drama into French, 1537–1580 189
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Part III: Beyond Translation
- Translation Ad Spiritum: Euripides’ Orestes and Nicholas Grimald’s Archipropheta (1548) 207
- Interpreting Oedipus’ Hamartia in the Italian Cinquecento: Theory and Practice (1526–1570) 227
-
Coda: Dramaturgy and Translation
- Early Modern Iphigenias and Practice Research 253
- Afterword: Prospects for Pan-European Translation History 293
- List of Contributors 305
- Bibliography 307
- Index Nominum et Rerum 335
- Index Locorum 341
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Foreword VII
- Contents XI
- List of Figures and Tables XV
- Abbreviations XVII
- Introduction 1
-
Part I: Translating Comedy
- Aristophanes’ Readers and Translators in 15th-Century Italy: The Latin Plutus of MS Matrit. Gr. 4697 17
- From Translating Aristophanes to Composing a Greek Comedy in 16th c. Europe: The Case of Alciato 37
- The Sausage-Seller Suddenly Speaks Vernacular: The First Italian Translation of Aristophanes’ Knights 53
-
Part II: Translating Tragedy
-
II.1: Scholarly Networks: Translation Models and Functions
- An ‘Origin’ of Translation: Erasmus’s Influence on Early Modern Translations of Greek Tragedy into Latin 69
- Imitation, Collaboration, Competition Between English and Continental Translators of Greek Tragedy 91
- Why Translate Greek Tragedy? Melanchthon, Winsheim, Camerarius, and Naogeorgus 115
-
II.2: Proto-National Dynamics and Vernacular Translating
- Translating Ancient Greek Tragedy in 16th- Century Italy 135
- The Italian Translation of Euripides’ Hecuba by Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger (1568–1647) 159
- Sophocles in 16th-Century Portugal: Aires Vitória’s Tragédia del Rei Agaménom 175
- Translating Ancient Greek Drama into French, 1537–1580 189
-
Part III: Beyond Translation
- Translation Ad Spiritum: Euripides’ Orestes and Nicholas Grimald’s Archipropheta (1548) 207
- Interpreting Oedipus’ Hamartia in the Italian Cinquecento: Theory and Practice (1526–1570) 227
-
Coda: Dramaturgy and Translation
- Early Modern Iphigenias and Practice Research 253
- Afterword: Prospects for Pan-European Translation History 293
- List of Contributors 305
- Bibliography 307
- Index Nominum et Rerum 335
- Index Locorum 341
