Experiences in Translation

In this book Umberto Eco argues that translation is not about comparing two languages, but about the interpretation of a text in two different languages, thus involving a shift between cultures. An author whose works have appeared in many languages, Eco is also the translator of Gérard de Nerval's Sylvie and Raymond Queneau's Exercices de style from French into Italian. In Experiences in Translation he draws on his substantial practical experience to identify and discuss some central problems of translation. As he convincingly demonstrates, a translation can express an evident deep sense of a text even when violating both lexical and referential faithfulness. Depicting translation as a semiotic task, he uses a wide range of source materials as illustration: the translations of his own and other novels, translations of the dialogue of American films into Italian, and various versions of the Bible. In the second part of his study he deals with translation theories proposed by Jakobson, Steiner, Peirce, and others.
Overall, Eco identifies the different types of interpretive acts that count as translation. An enticing new typology emerges, based on his insistence on a common-sense approach and the necessity of taking a critical stance.

Umberto Eco is Professor of Semiotics, University of Bologna. He is known worldwide as the author of The Name of the Rose, Foucault's Pendulum and A Theory of Semiotics.
Alastair McEwan is a translator living in Italy. He has translated more than 60 books.

"'Umberto Eco's Experiences in Translation is witty and engrossing, and it will inform and entertain readers who have ever wondered about the work that goes into transforming a text from a language they cannot read into one they can.' Jules Verdone, The Boston Globe 'This book is remarkably concise, yet rich, in its discussion of the enigma posed by translation. Eco has provided the reader with an informative and succinct discussion of translation. This work will help translators, literary specialists and scholars of comparative literature to understand the process of translation better.' Frank Nuessel, Journal of Literary Semantics"