André Lefevere

André Alphons Lefevere (born June 19, 1945 in Belgium , † March 27, 1996 in the USA ) was a Belgian translation scholar and translator . He first studied at the University of Ghent (1964–1968) and then moved to the University of Essex , where he received his doctorate in 1972. At the time of his death, he was a professor at the Institute for Germanic Languages at the University of Texas in Austin .

Life

Lefevere graduated in 1968 in Germanic Philology from the University of Ghent in Belgium with the grade "summa cum laude". He then completed a master's degree at the University of Essex , which he completed in 1970 "with distinction". In 1972 he received his doctorate from the same university with a dissertation on the topic of Prolegomena to a Grammar of Literary Translation . From 1970 to 1973 he was a lecturer in European literature at the University of Hong Kong , from 1973 to 1984 professor of English literature at the University of Antwerp and from 1984 until his death, Dutch professor at the University of Texas in Austin . He has also held numerous visiting lectureships at various universities in Australia, Belgium, Germany, England, Finland, South Africa and the USA. He died of acute leukemia at the age of 50.

Create

Lefevere's importance is based primarily on his publications on comparative literature and translation studies . Based on the polysystem theory developed by Itamar Even-Zohar , he described translation as a form of rewriting, the production and reception of which in the target cultural system is subject to a number of restrictive conditions. These are partly ideological or political in nature. The idea of translation as rewrite, developed by Lefevere, is based on the idea that any text written on the basis of another adapts it to a particular ideology or a particular poetics (and usually to both).

Together with Gideon Toury , James Holmes and Jose Lambert, Lefevere made a significant contribution in the English-speaking world to the establishment of translation studies as an independent discipline and, in particular, to its so-called cultural turnaround . In his introduction to the anthology Translation, History and Culture , written with Susan Bassnett , it says: "The operative 'translation unit' is no longer the word or the text, but the culture." One of the leading English-speaking translation scholars, Edwin Gentzler, described this volume as a "real breakthrough for the discipline"; one could see it as a symbol of their "coming of age". The volume laid the foundation for an increasingly intercultural and multicultural orientation in translation studies and thus also for its "postcolonial turnaround".

Publications

Translating Poetry: Seven Strategies and a Blueprint . Amsterdam: Van Gorcum, 1975
Literary Knowledge . Assen: Van Gorcum, 1977
Translating Literature: The German Tradition . Assen: Van Gorcum, 1977
Nederlandse Poëzie . Amsterdam: Coutinho, 1989
Essays in Comparative Literature . Calcutta: Papyrus, 1989
(Ed.) Translation, History, Culture: A Sourcebook . London / New York: Routledge, 1992
Translation, Rewriting, and the Manipulation of Literary Fame . London / New York: Routledge, 1992
Translating Literature: Practice and Theory in a Comparative Literature Context . New York: MLA, 1992
Constructing Cultures (with Susan Bassnett ). London: Multilingual Matters, 1997

Published in German

Interpretation, translation, rewriting: an alternative paradigm. Translated by Susanne Hagemann. In: Descriptive Translation Research: A Selection. Edited by Susanne Hagemann. Berlin: SAXA, pp. 63-91. (Translation from: Why waste our time on rewrites? The trouble with interpretation and the role of rewriting in an alternative paradigm . In: Theo Hermans (Ed.): The Manipulation of Literature: Studies in Literary Translation. London / Sydney: Croom Helm , 1985. pp. 215-243.)

Web links

Mini Chandran: The Cultural Turn in Translation Studies . Overview of Lefevere's work as part of an English-language e-learning course entitled Introduction to Translation Studies . Retrieved March 23, 2015.
John Denton: André Lefevere (1945-1996): A Brief Recollection / In Memoriam / Curriculum Vitae . Obituary, brief curriculum vitae, and bibliography on the University of Texas website. Retrieved March 22, 2015.

Individual evidence

^ John Denton: In Memoriam André Lefevere . University of Texas website. Retrieved January 16, 2012. - Exact date of birth according to Jan Šmrha: André Lefevere a jeho manipulační škola / André Lefevere and his Manipulation School . Thesis. Prague: Charles University, 2013. p. 10. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
^ John Denton: André Lefevere (1945-1996): A Brief Recollection / In Memoriam / Curriculum Vitae . University of Texas website. Retrieved March 22, 2015.
↑ Bo Petterson: The Postcolonial Turn in Literary Translation Studies: Theoretical Frameworks Reviewed , in: Canadian Aesthetics Journal / Revue canadienne d'esthétique , Vol. 4 (Summer 1999).

personal data
SURNAME	Lefevere, André
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Lefevere, André Alphons
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Belgian translation scholar and translator
DATE OF BIRTH	June 19, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH	Belgium
DATE OF DEATH	March 27, 1996
Place of death	Austin (Texas)

[1] John Denton: In Memoriam André Lefevere . University of Texas website. Retrieved January 16, 2012. - Exact date of birth according to Jan Šmrha: André Lefevere a jeho manipulační škola / André Lefevere and his Manipulation School . Thesis. Prague: Charles University, 2013. p. 10. Retrieved March 22, 2015.

[2] John Denton: André Lefevere (1945-1996): A Brief Recollection / In Memoriam / Curriculum Vitae . University of Texas website. Retrieved March 22, 2015.

[3] Bo Petterson: The Postcolonial Turn in Literary Translation Studies: Theoretical Frameworks Reviewed , in: Canadian Aesthetics Journal / Revue canadienne d'esthétique , Vol. 4 (Summer 1999).