In Search of Visibility: the Histoire des traductions en langue française Monumental Project

Résumé En

The Histoire des Traductions en Langue Française, published in France by Verdier and edited by Jean-Yves Masson and Yves Chevrel, is a history of translated works, rather than of translation itself, which aims at assessing and re-evaluating the crucial and critical impact of translated works and translators on the francophone cultural and literary heritage, including the translations achieved outside France, notably in Québec, French-speaking Belgium and Switzerland. It spans a vast historical period running from the Middle Ages to the end of the 20th century, covers large and small linguistic areas alike and embraces all fields of knowledge, including, beyond the traditional branches of literature (fiction, poetry, drama, nonfiction) and subsets of genres (essays, graphic novels, crime fiction, fantasy, etc.), philosophy, sciences, religion, law, history. While only fragmentary and incomplete data had been available so far, this four-volume collaborative history of translations in French relies on the expertise of dozens of academics and translators who have gathered material pertaining to the history of translation and translators as well as statistical data and case studies, some of which drawing on unpublished sources.