This book, written by a team of experts from many countries, provides a comprehensive account of the ways in which translation has brought the major literatures of the world into English-speaking culture. Part I discusses theoretical issues and gives an overview of the history of translation into English. Part II, the bulk of the work, arranged by language of origin, offers critical discussions, with bibliographies, of the translation history of specific texts (e.g. the Koran, the Kalevala), authors (e.g. Lucretius, Dostoevsky), genres (e.g. Chinese poetry, twentieth-century Italian prose) and national literatures (e.g. Hungarian, Afrikaans).
'There is a continual raising of vital issues in the best possible way, by concrete examples ... Peter France, whose own contributions are firstrate, is to be congratulated for gathering information, discussion and concrete instances of great interactive and generative power ... In Peter France's Guide, the essays by the classicists ... so full of particular cases, are quite the best account I have ever read of the immense enriching of our language out ofGreek and Latin.'David Constantine, TLS, 1 June 2001'1Review from previous edition 'No individual is qualified to "review" let alone assess seriously so vast a terrain. The essential impulse is one of gratitude. . . . Simply to look up what has been translated from what languages, and when, is to have access to essential aspects of poetics, literary criticism, and intellectual history. More subtly, these entries and reading lists invite one to reflect on what has not (or only infrequently) beentranslated, and possible reasons why. . . . the Oxford Guide is a prodigal introduction to joys some of which may before long be lost.''George Steiner, Translation and Literature
