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Published September 2019
Comparative Literature in Britain: National Identities, Transnational Dynamics 1800-2000
Joep Leerssen
Studies In Comparative Literature 27
- ‘This is a study of the rare kind of which it can truthfully be said that it is definitive: the description fits Leerssen’s book perfectly. To those still living who launched comparative literature in the new universities some 50 years ago it will come as a happy reminder of an exciting time of innovation and change which they were fortunate to have been part of. To those of a later generation it will reveal that what happened in the 1960s did not emerge from nowhere: a long and honourable history, ably explored by Professor Leerssen, led up to it.’ — John Fletcher, Journal of European Studies 50.3, 2020, 302-321 (full text online)
- ‘The publication of [this book] is welcome news... The entire section on the nineteenth century is a treasure house of insights into cross-national and comparative ways of approaching knowledge... This is, all in all, a book to be heartily recommended for a wide variety of readers interested in comparative studies in the humanities and social sciences, while being of particular interest to those wishing to understand the evolution of literary and cultural studies.’ — Barnita Bagchi, History of Humanities Fall 2020, 554-56
Published June 2015
The Reinvention of Theatre in Sixteenth-Century Europe: Traditions, Texts and Performance
Edited by T. F. Earle and Catarina Fouto
Legenda (General Series)
- ‘Sem dúvida, uma perspectiva rica e bastante abrangente do fenómeno teatral na Europa do séc. XVI.’ — Manuel José De Sousa Barbosa, Euphrosyne 45, 2017, 658-60
Published September 2013
Likenesses: Translation, Illustration, Interpretation
Matthew Reynolds
Studies In Comparative Literature 30
- ‘The collection reveals an impressive breadth of scholarship, travelling between disciplines and across centuries from George Stubbs’s equestrian paintings, through the more familiar Reynoldian territory of Robert Browning, to the conspicuously contemporary, ‘Dante on the Tube’. This diversity effectively demonstrates ‘continuities’ in literature, impressing upon the reader the contemporary relevance of earlier works through juxtaposition.’ — Rebecca Butler, Modern Language Review 110.3, July 2015, 793-94 (full text online)
Published August 2013
English Renaissance Translation Theory
Edited by Neil Rhodes with Gordon Kendal and Louise Wilson
Tudor and Stuart Translations 9
- ‘Not only is the anthology representative, but it is rich in the diversity of opinions expressed ... Needless to say, this is a must acquisition for those interested in those redoubtable early English translators as artisans and cultural mediators reflecting, after the fact, upon how the instruments of translation do what they do, and according to whose bidding.’ — Donald Beecher, Renaissance and Reformation 37.2, 2014, 187-90
- ‘The general editors' ambitions ... are brilliantly realized ... This is an invaluable work that will shape future directions in early modern translation studies.’ — Liz Oakley-Brown, Renaissance Quarterly 68, 2015, 383-84
- ‘Supremely useful ... this volume will be a major spur to translation studies.’ — Barbara Fuchs, Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 55, 2015, 225
- ‘English Renaissance Translation Theory is an important work – a necessary one, indeed [...] from now on, nobody working on translation in the Tudor and early Stuart periods will wish to be without it.’ — Massimiliano Morini, Translation and Literature 23, 2014, 390-93
- ‘A substantial and illuminating introduction opens up debates familiar to scholars and translators today, such as whether to privilege word over sense, or to prefer poesy or prose in translation, and situates them firmly in their renaissance context.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 50, 2014, 505
- ‘This is an important book that will prove an invaluable resource to undergraduates new to translation theory and to the more informed reader alike.’ — Rachel Willie, Modern Language Review 111, 2016, 538 (full text online)
- ‘The most comprehensive anthology of English Renaissance Translation Theory that has ever been printed, and it will be a trusted companion text for generations of future scholars.’ — Joshua Reid, Spenser Review 45.2.34, Fall 2015
Published May 2011
English Responses to French Poetry 1880-1940: Translation and Mediation
Jennifer Higgins
Legenda (General Series)
- ‘The account of Huxley’s version of Rimbaud’s ‘Les Chercheuses de poux’ is particularly fine, and laurels awarded to Beckett’s ‘Drunken Boat’ are shown to be well deserved. In this respect, Higgins’s readings are consonant with some of her own general arguments, for she frequently conveys the sense of a critical mind finding out more about the original text, as well as testing the qualities of the translation. In her hands, both French and English texts are made to speak to and of each other.’ — Matthew Creasy, Translation and Literature 21, 2012, 255-61
- ‘This rewarding book deftly handles — and illuminates — a wide range of sources... a tantalizing taste of a fascinating area for further research.’ — Adam Watt, Modern Language Review 107.3, July 2012, 897-98 (full text online)
- ‘In the years preceding the Second World War [...] a diminution in the quantity of translated material is compensated for by a greater acknowledgement of the centrality of translation to the development of national — and transnational — literary cultures. This study is to be commended for its consistent advocacy and demonstration of that centrality.’ — Michael G. Kelly, French Studies 66.4 (October 2012), 572
Published December 2002
Channel Crossings: French and English Poetry in Dialogue 1550-2000
Clive Scott
Legenda (General Series)
- ‘Crossing the boundary between the critical and the creative, Clive Scott continues the debate on the 'undecidable' in the meaning of art text and concomitant problems in the theory of translation.’ — Roger Pensom, Modern Language Review 99.1, 2004, 281-2 (full text online)
- ‘The imaginative and sensitive essays explore the principles of translation and the notion of comparative literature... Stimulating arguments link all the essays, such as the celebration of the necessary difference between source and target texts, especially in poetry, where 'the' meaning remains defiantly unseizable.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies XL.1, 2004, 116
- ‘Scott is a critic who can find the perfect critical expression for the tiniest little effect, who can describe microscopic modulations of thought and language, and thereby give them status in the reading process. He is also a critic with his eye on the big picture, who has produced a discipline-defining book, showing us where we have got to and suggesting where next we might profitably go. It richly deserved to win the Gapper Prize.’ — Patrick McGuinness, French Studies LVIII.3, 2004, 446-7