Dopo Babele

Hard as hell to get into but so thoroughly worth the effort. Reading After Babel, I could actually feel some of the old lazy given-up-for-dead neurons that I torched in the 80s and 90s springing back to life and looking to start up fresh. What I learned from this book: 1. If you are reading this, you Leggi tutto

Steiner cites many texts in French, German, Latin, and Italian, but does not always translate these citations. He does however reiterate the salient points of the quotation so that it is possible to follow his argument without full translation. Chapter 1. Steiner asserts that, even with speakers of t Leggi tutto

Quello che invidio a Steiner, oltre alla conoscenza di tante lingue e di tante letterature, è la lucidità. Pensieri incisivi, che vanno in profondità ma che vanno anche in alto, mostrandoci i temi su cui davvero vale la pena ragionare quando si parla di linguaggio. La riflessione è veramente su un a Leggi tutto

For those who do Translation Studies, are translators, or are doing anything comparative in their post-secondary education, this book is a must-read. It gives a detailed, comprehensive history of the practice of translation, beginning with its roots in biblical studies. Steiner never quite looses si Leggi tutto

Sorry George te ingewikkeld te veel te langdradig

Written in 1970s Steinerian autistic idolect, AB submits itself as proof that language obscures as much as it communicates; shatters and Babelizes with every evocation; protects, prevaricates, privatizes, proposes that the way natural things appear to us could, should, would, will be different. Play Leggi tutto

I mistakenly got this book thinking it would be an interesting book for the general public about language and the issues of meaning and translation. Instead, it's a scholarly book probably suitable for those with graduate studies or equivalent in literature. It assumes a wide knowledge of literature Leggi tutto