A new slew of leading works have been selected for translation in an effort to combat commercialism in literature.
Homer who? The translation of Homer’s “The Odyssey” into Hebrew will begin this year, in a project that aims to expose Israelis to classics rather than commercial fare.
Works by Freud, Homer and Hugo are among the classics to be translated into Hebrew this year, in a project of the Israel Center for Libraries.
As part of its Translation of Great Literary Works Project, the center is allocating about NIS 600,000 for translation of a number of works this year.
Full article: http://www.haaretz.com/culture/homer-not-simpson-in-hebrew.premium-1.450092
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Surely Hebrew translations of Homer, Hugo, and Freud already exist. I know I've seen references to the fact that Freud did not accept royalties for the Hebrew translations of his works.
Could the previous translations have been so poor as to warrant this new enterprise? At any rate, I hope the translators involved are getting paid well.
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:10
Hebrew to English
Indeed, the publishers are advertising the new translation of The Iliad (published in January 2012) as "the first Hebrew prose translation of this great work."
http://www.magnespress.co.il/website_en/index.asp?id=3663#aaa
Alas, if these really are the first translations, then it's a... See more
Indeed, the publishers are advertising the new translation of The Iliad (published in January 2012) as "the first Hebrew prose translation of this great work."
http://www.magnespress.co.il/website_en/index.asp?id=3663#aaa
Alas, if these really are the first translations, then it's about time! ▲ Collapse
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I know this because of his famous refusal to accept royalties for those translations during his lifetime. I also remember reading (an English translation of) an introduction to the Hebrew translation of one of his works.
Once again, though, I really would be surprised if Hebrew translations of Homer's epics and Hugo's novels don't exist. After all, I remember seeing translations of Shakespeare's works into Hebrew more tha... See more
I know this because of his famous refusal to accept royalties for those translations during his lifetime. I also remember reading (an English translation of) an introduction to the Hebrew translation of one of his works.
Once again, though, I really would be surprised if Hebrew translations of Homer's epics and Hugo's novels don't exist. After all, I remember seeing translations of Shakespeare's works into Hebrew more than thirty years ago! ▲ Collapse
Local time: 19:10
Hebrew to English
Translations of classic works dating from the early part of the twentieth century are difficult to read now as the languague has changed so much. Also, many works were translated from translations into other (European) languages, and not always from the original.
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Local time: 12:10
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Translations of classic works dating from the early part of the twentieth century are difficult to read now as the languague has changed so much. Also, many works were translated from translations into other (European) languages, and not always from the original.
This would indeed be a justification for new translations. In the case of Freud, I'm sure the translations were directly from the original German but, as you point out, the Hebrew language has changed a great deal during the past 80-100 years.
Yet another factor to consider is that translations into Hebrew from the late 19th and early 20th centuries may not have been of the best quality due to the high likelihood that they were not done by native Hebrew speakers (a considerable cohort of adults aged 30 and over native in Hebrew not existing before the 1930s).
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:10
Hebrew to English
Translations of classic works dating from the early part of the twentieth century are difficult to read now as the languague has changed so much. Also, many works were translated from translations into other (European) languages, and not always from the original.
Thanks Debbie! I also thought this might be the reason, didn't consider whether they were translated directly or translations of translations though. Still, that makes it a bit naughty to tout them as "the first translations"....marketing eh!
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