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Babel

Adventures in Translation
By Matthew Reynolds and Stephen Harrison and Katrin Kohl and Dennis Duncan
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Babel is an innovative collection of essays exploring how linguistic diversity has inspired adventurous journeys through the translation of texts across cultures and eras. Starting with the concept of Babel and the ancient Mediterranean Linear A script, it traces the transmission of ideas across languages from Greek papyri, illuminated manuscripts, and early books to fantasy languages like Tolkien's Elvish. The book covers multilingual interactions in religion, science, animal fables, fairy tales, fantasy, and major works such as Homer's epics, richly illustrated with materials from papyrus fragments to Esperanto handbooks and Asterix cartoons.
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Format: Hardback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This volume is ideal for readers interested in linguistics, translation studies, cultural history, and the visual culture of texts. Scholars, students, and curious general readers fascinated by language and its cross-cultural journeys will find it rewarding.

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This innovative and lavishly illustrated collection of essays shows how linguistic diversity has inspired people across time and cultures to embark on adventurous journeys through the translation of texts. From papyrus fragments to Asterix cartoons, it explores how ideas have travelled via the medium of translation.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

This innovative collection of essays shows how linguistic diversity has inspired people across time and cultures to embark on adventurous journeys through the translation of texts. It tells the story of how ideas have travelled via the medium of translation into different languages and cultures, focusing on illustrated examples ranging from Greek papyri through illuminated manuscripts and fine early books to fantasy languages, such as J.R.R. Tolkien's Elvish. It also addresses the search for a universal language and the challenges of translation in multicultural Britain.

Starting with the concept of Babel itself, which illustrates the early cultural prominence of multilingualism, and with an illustration of a Mediterranean language of four millennia ago (Linear A) which still resists deciphering, the book examines how languages have interacted with each other in different contexts. The book explores the multilingual transmission of key texts in religion, science (the history of Euclid), animal fable (from Aesop in Greek to Beatrix Potter via La Fontaine, with some fascinating Southeast Asian books), fairy-tale, fantasy, and translations of the great Greek epics of Homer.

It is lavishly illustrated with a diverse range of material, from papyrus fragments found at Oxyrhynchus to Esperanto handbooks to Asterix cartoons, each offering its own particular adventure into translation.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised by Complete Review for its sumptuous illustrations and broad, thought-provoking essays, Babel offers an agreeably engaging overview of translation and language-related subjects, making it both visually impressive and intellectually stimulating.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781851245093

Publisher: Bodleian Library

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 15 February 2019

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Bodleian Library

Illustration: 65 Illustrations, color

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 207.0mm

Height: 244.0mm

Weight: 950g

Pages: 176

Collections

Dennis Duncan Education & Reference Katrin Kohl Matthew Reynolds Non-Fiction Stephen Harrison

About the Author

Dennis Duncan is Munby Fellow in Bibliography, University of Cambridge. Stephen Harrison is Professor of Latin Literature, University of Oxford, and Fellow and Tutor in Classics, Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Katrin Kohl is Professor of German Literature, University of Oxford, and Fellow and Tutor in German, Jesus College, Oxford. Matthew Reynolds is Professor of English and Comparative Criticism, University of Oxford, and Fellow and Tutor in English Language and Literature, St Anne's College, Oxford.

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