Translating Crusoe (and Friday) in the 1720s. The first French translation of Robinson Crusoe (1720).
Guest lecture by Dr Diego Stefanelli (Universität Mainz)
Thursday 23 May 2024 | Campus Mercator, A1.04, 15.00
TRACE (Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication) is hosting a guest lecture by Dr Diego Stefanelli (Universität Mainz) on the history of translation in France in the 17th and 18th century.
This presentation focuses on the first French translation of Robinson Crusoe, La vie et les avantures surprenantes de Robinson Crusoe (Amsterdam, 1720). The translation was principally undertaken by Justus van Effen (with some contribution from Thémiseul de Saint-Hyacinthe) and should be placed in the context of the first translations of the novel in the 1720s and 1730s, into German, Dutch, and Italian. After an examination of the French translation, including its reception and its relationship with other contemporaneous translations, the presentation proceeds to analyze two distinct types of interpretative contributions made by the translator. On the one hand, the translator’s preface will be discussed, in which Van Effen takes a position on an aspect of the novel that was of great relevance for readers of the 1720s: the question of its authenticity. On the other, the presentation concentrates on the micro-textual level, conducting a textual comparison of the English source text and the French translation in order to examine how Van Effen translates the complex relationship between Crusoe and Friday, particularly the terms defining Friday’s identity as Crusoe’s servant. In both cases, the speaker will draw a comparison with the Dutch, German, and Italian translations in order to gain a deeper understanding of the French translator’s choices.