Translation and Transfer of Knowledge in Encyclopedic Compilations, 1680-1830

by Clorinda Donato (Editor), Hans-J rgen L sebrink (Editor)

Overview

From its modern origins in seventeenth-century France, encyclopedic compilations met the need for the dissemination of information in a more flexible format, one that eschewed the limits of previous centuries of erudition. The rise of vernacular languages dovetailed with the demand for information in every sector, sparking competition among nations to establish the encyclopedic "paper empires" that became symbols of power and potential. The contributors to this edited collection evaluate the long-overlooked phenomenon of knowledge creation and transfer that occurred in hundreds of translated encyclopedic compilations over the long eighteenth century.

Analysing multiple instances of translated compilations, Translation and Transfer of Knowledge in Encyclopedic Compilations, 1680–1830 expands into the vast realm of the multilingual, encyclopedic compilation, the most tangible proof of the global enlightenment. Through the presentation of an extensive corpus of translated compilations, this volume argues that the true site of knowledge transfer resided in the transnational movement of ideas exemplified by these compendia. The encyclopedia came to represent the aspiring nation as a viable economic and political player on the world stage; the capability to tell knowledge through culture became the hallmark of a nation’s cultural capital, symbolic of its might and mapping the how, why, and where of the global eighteenth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487508906
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	09/20/2021
Series:	Ucla Clark Memorial Library Series
Pages:	376
Product dimensions:	6.25(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.95(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Clorinda Donato is a professor of French and Italian at California State University, Long Beach, and director of the Clorinda Donato Center for Global Romance Languages and Translation Studies.
Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink is a senior professor in the Department of Romance Literatures, Languages, and Cultures at Saarland University and co-director (with Susanne Greilich) of a research project on the translation of eighteenth-century encyclopedias funded by the DFG (German Research Council).

Table of Contents

Introduction
Clorinda Donato and Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink

1. Savary Des Brulons’ Dictionnaire Universel du Commerce: Translations and Adaptations
Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink

2. The Cultural and Esthetic Challenges of Translating English and German Articles on the Performing Arts in French Eighteenth-Century Encyclopedias
Alain Cernuschi

3. Camels in the Alps: Translations, Transfer, and Adoption Processes in Dutch Encyclopedias
Ina U. Paul

4. Long Haul: The Troublesome Publication of the First Dutch Complete Description of Trades and Occupations (1788–1820)
Arianne Baggerman

5. Translations in the Encyclopédie méthodique
Kathleen Hardesty Doig

6. Branding Knowledge through Transfer and Translation: The Encyclopédie méthodique in Italy and Spain
Clorinda Donato

7. The Migration of Beccaria's Penal Ideas in Encyclopedic Compilations (1770–1789)
Luigi Delia

8. Transfer and Popularization of Knowledge: Brockhaus’ Conversations-Lexicon in the Early Nineteenth Century
Iwan-Michelangelo D’Aprile

9. Two French Konversationslexika of the 1830s and 1840s: The Dictionnaire de la conversation et de la lecture and the Encyclopédie des gens du monde
Jeff Loveland

10. Compiling Based on Translations: Notes on Raynal's and Diderot's Work on the Histoire des deux Indes
Susan Greilich

11. Johann Heinrich Zedler and the Challenge of Creating a Proper Encyclopedic Article in Mid-Eighteenth-Century Germany
Ulrich Schneider

12. Barbarians in the Archive: Transfers of Knowledge of the Colonial Other in the Encyclopédie of Diderot and d’Alembert
Karen Struve

13. The Last Encyclopédie
Arianne Baggermann and Clorinda Donato

What People are Saying About This

Linn Holmberg

"In this highly anticipated book, Donato and Lüsebrink take a multifaceted approach to the transnational mobility, adaptation, and repurposing of encyclopedic texts in the long eighteenth century. By exploring the work behind a great number of encyclopedic compilations coded as 'translations,' the thirteen essays offer new, rich, eye-opening perspectives on the translator's role in transforming and transmitting knowledge across linguistic and national borders in the Enlightenment era."

Andreas Motsch

"This collection of case studies traces the mechanisms and networks of the production, translation, and dissemination of knowledge in early modern Europe and, at the same time, sheds light on the economy of knowledge itself. The volume offers a fresh and insightful look at encyclopedism before the age of Wikipedia, reminding the reader of forgotten lessons."

Editorial Reviews

"The reviewed volume contains a rich bouquet of interesting contributions to contemporary encyclopedia research. These contributions show how encyclopedias can be approached from different disciplines and perspectives and how rich the results can be, not least in terms of knowledge transfer, translations, and national characteristics, even translation errors that have been spread."—Urs B, Leu, Zentralbibliothek Zürich, H-France Review
"This collection is an outstanding addition to encyclopedia studies and to scholarship on the long eighteenth century, on the Enlightenment and early modernity, and on issues in cultural translation."—Larry W. Riggs, Butler University, New Perspectives on the Eighteenth Century

"In this highly anticipated book, Donato and Lüsebrink take a multifaceted approach to the transnational mobility, adaptation, and repurposing of encyclopedic texts in the long eighteenth century. By exploring the work behind a great number of encyclopedic compilations coded as ‘translations,’ the thirteen essays offer new, rich, eye-opening perspectives on the translator’s role in transforming and transmitting knowledge across linguistic and national borders in the Enlightenment era."

—Linn Holmberg, Researcher and Teacher in History of Science and Ideas, Stockholm University

"This collection of case studies traces the mechanisms and networks of the production, translation, and dissemination of knowledge in early modern Europe and, at the same time, sheds light on the economy of knowledge itself. The volume offers a fresh and insightful look at encyclopedism before the age of Wikipedia, reminding the reader of forgotten lessons."

—Andreas Motsch, Associate Professor of French, University of Toronto

From the Publisher

“This collection is an outstanding addition to encyclopedia studies and to scholarship on the long eighteenth century, on the Enlightenment and early modernity, and on issues in cultural translation.”

New Perspectives on the Eighteenth Century - Larry W. Riggs

“The reviewed volume contains a rich bouquet of interesting contributions to contemporary encyclopedia research. These contributions show how encyclopedias can be approached from different disciplines and perspectives and how rich the results can be, not least in terms of knowledge transfer, translations, and national characteristics, even translation errors that have been spread.”

H-France Review - Urs B