Translators and their Prologues in Medieval England by Elizabeth Dearnley (review)

This introductory study in Middle English translation theory establishes a solid theoretical basis for further studies of Middle English translators' prologues. Dearnley examines a core corpus of twenty-six prologues, arguing that the emergence of English as a prestige literary language in the fourteenth century makes English translation "a literary tradition in its own right," with "its own critical vocabulary and conventions" (6). She compares Middle English translators' prologues to earlier Latin, French, Germanic, and Anglo-Saxon prologues, as well as to later medieval Middle Dutch prologues, examining iconography, mutli-linguality, the evidence for women translators, and the audiences for Middle English translations.

Chapters 1 and 2 argue that until the ninth-century divergence of Romance vernaculars from Latin, high-prestige Latin texts are translated into low-prestige vernaculars, with cultural conventions allowing Romance languages higher status than Germanic languages. However, Dearnley also argues that early Anglo-Norman translators hold Old English source texts in high esteem due to a Latin-independent literary tradition in England. She builds a solid case for suggesting that Alfred's justification for vernacular translation informs the work of later English translators, claiming that tenth-century Winchester school conventions indicate a century-long "organized approach to Latin > vernacular translation unprecedented in Europe" (47). She also suggests that early Middle English translator prologues discuss translation in the same terms as Alfred and the Winchester school, suggesting a continuity of English practice. Her analysis of the trilingual environment of post-Conquest England argues that thirteenth-and fourteenth-century translators' prologues reflect both a sense of English as "a lexically straitened language" (59) and a patriotic pride in English, while establishing such prologue conventions as dedications, reasons for writing, identification of the author/translator, and the cited use of authoritative sources. The opening chapters lay the groundwork for later discussions of the emergence, or perhaps re-emergence, of English-language literary prestige in the fourteenth century.

Chapter 3 explores developments in Middle English translation theory diachronically, identifying eleven motifs that "come in and out of play according to the type of text being written, perceived audience demands and the period," and arguing that later translators' prologues tend to include more motifs than earlier prologues (64). Dearnley identifies an emphasis on the translator's persona, consideration of the audience, emphasis on truthfulness, and a closing prayer as features which would become increasingly standard in Middle English translators' prologues, also suggesting that thirteenth-century prologues demonstrate an increasing concern with establishing and defending English as a literary language, while fourteenth-century prologues transform that motif into a rhetorical trope. She claims that the fourteenth-century saw an increase in consciousness concerning translation, during which period prologues become more concerned with the methodologies and circumstances of translation. However, she treats the prologues to oral romances as a separate category, suggesting that they follow a French tradition in demonstrating greater concern with genre, transferral, and transmission than methodology. The identification of themes, motifs, and tropes thoroughly support her claims for a body of convention; but identifying some prologues as part of an indigenous English tradition and others as part of an imported French tradition raises genre issues that need more clarification.

Chapters 4–7 focus on the theme of the translator's persona through examinations of self-description, iconography, and the (im)possibility of identifying women translators in Middle English works. Dearnley provides her most intriguing explorations of themes and conventions in these four chapters. Her exploration of translator iconography through comparisons of insular and continental illustrations builds a strong context for her arguments concerning conventions and cross-cultural borrowing, while her analysis of the shifting status of Anglo-Norman French during the Middle English period lays the groundwork for her discussions of women as possible translators and for the examination of a chronological shift from early prologues specifying generalized audiences to later prologues naming specific patrons. She argues that "explicit address" (203) to female audiences for translated texts is more than a rhetorical...