A Sociological Approach to Poetry Translation

This volume provides an in-depth comparative study of translation practices and the role of the poet-translator across different countries and in so doing, demonstrates the need for poetry translation to be extended beyond close reading and situated in context. Drawing on a corpus composed of data from national library catalogues and Worldcat, the book examines translation practices of English-language, French-language, and Italian-language poet-translators through the lens of a broad sociological approach. Chapters 2 through 5 look at national poetic movements, literary markets, and the historical and socio-political contexts of translations, with Chapter 6 offering case studies of prominent and representative poet-translators from each tradition. A comprehensive set of appendices offers readers an opportunity to explore this data in greater detail. Taken together, the volume advocates for the need to study translation data against broader aesthetic, historical, and political trends and will be of particular interest to students and scholars in translation studies and comparative literature.

Jacob S. D. Blakesley is a University Academic Fellow in World Literatures at the University of Leeds, where he is Co-Director of the Leeds Centre for Dante Studies. His previous monograph was Modern Italian Poets: Translators of the Impossible (2014). He recently edited Sociologies of Poetry Translation: Emerging Perspectives (2018).