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Few speakers of English have ever been able to read the Icelandic sagas in the original language, and published saga translations have played a major role in shaping attitudes towards Viking Age Scandinavia and the great literary achievements of medieval Iceland in the English-speaking world. This book is the first publication to provide an extended examination of the history and development of Icelandic saga translations into English from their beginnings in the eighteenth century to today. It explores reasons for undertaking saga translation, and the challenges confronting translators. Chapters are devoted to the pioneering saga translations, the later Victorian and Edwardian eras, the often-neglected period of the two World Wars and their aftermath, and the upsurge of saga translation in the second half of the twentieth century. The contributions of individual translators and teams are reviewed, from James Johnstone in the 1780s through major Victorians such as Samuel Laing, George Webbe Dasent, and William Morris, distinguished twentieth century figures such as Lee M. Hollander, Gwyn Jones, Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Palsson, and George Johnston, and the great co-operative project which produced "The Complete Sagas of Icelanders" at the century's end. The book concludes with saga translation facing interesting new possibilities and challenges, not least those generated by information technology.
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KATERN 1 T RANSLATING THE S AGAS Page 1 MAKING THE MIDDLE AGES THE CENTRE FOR MEDIEVAL STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY Series Editors Geraldine Barnes (University of Sydney) M argaret Clunies Ross (University of Sydney) Editorial Board Geraldine Barnes (University of Sydney) M argaret Clunies Ross (University of Sydney) Penelope Gay (University of Sydney) David M atthews (University of Manchester) Stephanie Trigg (University of Melbourne) Advisory Board Jürg Glauser (Universities of Zurich and Basel) Stephen Knight (University of W ales, Cardiff ) Ulrich M üller (University of Salzburg) Russell Poole (University of W estern Ontario) Tom Shippey (St Louis University) Richard Utz (W estern M ichigan University) Kathleen Verduin (Hope College, Michigan) Volume 5 Page 2 T RANSLATING THE S AGAS Two Hundred Years of Challenge and Response by John Kennedy H F Page 3 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Kennedy, John Translating the sagas : two hundred years of challenge and response. - (Making the Middle Ages ; 5) 1. Sagas - Translations into English - History and criticism I. Title 839.6'09 ISBN-13: 9782503507729 © 2007, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. D/2007/0095/53 ISBN: 978-2-503-50772-9 Printed in the E.U. on acid-free paper Page 4 C ONTENTS Preface Chapter 1. Why Translate the Sagas? Page 5 vii 1 Chapter 2. The Task of the Translator 21 Chapter 3. The Pioneer Saga Translations 51 Chapter 4. In the Shadow of William Morris: Saga Translations 1869–1913 77 Chapter 5. Translations of the Period 1914–50 107 Chapter 6. Saga Translations in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century 135 Chapter 7. The Future of Saga Translation 181 Bibliography 191 Index 209 Page 6 P REFACE T ranslation is not an activity generally held in great esteem. This is despite the fact that it is necessarily ubiquitous in the majority of the world’s