Women translators
It is ironic that translation theory should use such gender biased language, considering that translation was traditionally thought of as a feminine activity. In fact translation was the only literary activity that was allowed to the woman in medieval Europe. This continued to the time of the Reformation and Renaissance. During the Reformation, for instance, women were actively encouraged to translate religious texts. Even educated women of letters like Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke (Sir Philip Sidney’s sister) did only translations. It is said that when her goddaughter Mary Wroth expressed ambitions to become a writer, she was admonished for her temerity and advised to emulate her aunt Mary Sidney who had confined herself to the translation of “so many godly books” (Sherry Simon, “Gender and Translation”,"http://www.jrank.org/literature/pages/7168/Gender-in-Translation.html"). Many of these women tried to contribute in their own ways to the literary culture of the times by making a distinctive mark through their translations. We have quite a few women translators who have earned a reputation for themselves down the ages.
Aphra Behn (1640 – 89) one of the earliest women writers of England, was a good translator also. She translated from Latin and French which was unusual for a woman of those days because they were never given an education in classical languages. Her translation of La Rochefoucauld and the philosopher Fontenelle are considered to be her major contributions to translation.
As we travel down the centuries, another name that comes up prominently is that of Constance Garnett (1862 – 1946). She single-handedly introduced Russian authors to the English-speaking world. Her works include the translations of Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Chekhov. She translated around sixty volumes of the works of Russian authors, and if the Russians are valued for their literary contributions today, they owe a large part of their reputations to the work of Constance Garnett. Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter did the same for the famous German writer Thomas Mann. Mann had to leave his native Germany and settle in the USA because of Hitler, and his writings were banned in Germany. Good English translations were crucial for him as they were the only way in which he could reach out to his readers. Porter, who translated Mann’s works while he was alive, worked in close cooperation with him while making the translations.
Edith Grossman is a contemporary example of a translator who has been solely instrumental in opening up a new world of letters, which is that of Spanish literature. She has translated a formidable array of Spanish works including Miguel Cervantes’s Don Quixote which is by itself a work for a lifetime. She has also translated the Noble Prize winners like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mario Vargas Llosa and other Latin American greats like Carlos Fuentes. Grossman’s contributions to the domain of translated literature are thus priceless; she has also contributed to the field of translation theory through her book Why Translation Matters.
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