"Behind Inverted Commas": Translation and Anglo-German Cultural Relations in the Nineteenth Century (Topics in Translation, 15)

Sarah Austin (1793 - 1867), one of the most distinguished nineteenth-century translators of German texts, described translation as an activity which allowed her to secure herself "behind the welcome defence of inverted commas". This book argues that translation is not an innocent, transparent, shielded and unpolitical literary task. It aims to overcome the anonymity, silence and lack of creativity associated by placing centre stage a ntework of British nineteenth-century intellectuals who specialized in translations from German.The ideas about linguistic and cultural transmission which were discussed by the translatiors featuring in this study, as well as a selection of texts they chose to render into English, are examined. In addition, the book explores cross-currents between translation and gender studies, nineteenth-century developments in the visual arts, linguistic scholarship and historiography as well as travel writing. Translation this emerges as a force which has the potential to alter culture, while it can itself be modified by cultural developments.