Samuel Putnam

Samuel Putnam (born October 10, 1892 in Rossville , Illinois , † January 15, 1950 in Lambertville , New Jersey ) was an American translator and Romanist .

Putnam was known for his leaning towards the political left (he was a columnist for the Daily Worker ). His most famous work is his English translation of Miguel de Cervantes ' Don Quixote , published in 1949 . It is the first version of the work in a contemporary English language. Although the translation still makes use of ancient language, it is used in a more limited way than in previous English versions of the work. The language is formal, but rarely old-fashioned when spoken by the educated, while the rural folk use modern colloquial English. Putnam worked on its translation for twelve years before publishing it. He also published a companion volume, The Portable Cervantes , which contains a short version of his translation in addition to two of Cervantes' exemplary novellas . Putnam's full translation has been reprinted in the Modern Library and has seldom been out of print in the nearly sixty years since it appeared.

Putnam has also emerged as a translator of Euclides da Cunhas Os Sertões (under the English title Rebellion in the Backlands , Chicago 1944; Ger. 1994 under the title "War in the Sertão"), Rabelais , Aretino and many other authors.

He was drawn to such contrasting characters as Margaret of Navarra (1936) and Kiki von Montparnasse , whose memoirs he translated under the English title The Education of a French Model (1950).

Putnam was the father of the philosopher Hilary Putnam (1926-2016).

Web link

• John Ormsby

source

This article uses information from http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521012546&ss=exc and the edition of Don Quixote de la Mancha , translated by Samuel Putnam, in particular the Translator's Introduction by Mr. Putnam (Modern Library: 1998 Edition).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Samuel Putnam in the Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved May 3, 2009.