Translation Studies, Cultural Context, and Dante

In his article, "Translation Studies, Cultural Context, and Dante," Reuven Tsur explores limits of legitimacy in translation studies. Tsur's approach is a critique of the theoretical assumptions and their application in Edoardo Crisafulli's cultural interpretation of Seamus Heaney's decisions in translating the Ugolino episode in Dante's Inferno. Crisafulli claims that Heaney's choices show internal consistency, and can be accounted for by appealing to "the Irish situational context." Instead, Tsur argues that Crisafulli's cultural interpretations are arbitrary and that a more satisfactory account can be offered through an analysis of constraints within a conception of the aesthetic object as an elegant solution to a problem. Another disagreement concerns the intertextual processes between Dante's segment and Heaney's volume of original poetry in which it is printed. It is suggested here that by juxtaposing two texts, high-salient features of one text may reinforce similar features in the other and promote their salience. Reuven Tsur, "Translation Studies, Cultural Context, and Dante" page 2 of 10 CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 3.1 (2001):