Pour une histoire comparée des traductions éd. par Dominique Courcelles, Vincent Martines Peres (review)

Reviews 287 meaningful contextualization.Across the chapters,the primary common NorthAmerican influences include Adele Goldberg, Ronald Langacker, Charles Fillmore, Paul Kay, and Knud Lambrecht. These scholars’ works are deftly intermingled with theories and papers developed within the French linguistic tradition. Constructionist and cognitive analytical tools in the volume, such as coercion, idiomaticity, appropriation, (syntactic) frames, taxonomic relations, inheritance, productivity, and grammaticalization, are applied to issues in French syntax, lexicon, and first and second language acquisition. Collectively, the authors demonstrate that Construction Grammar is an effective framework for analyzing specific constructions such as faire partie de, c’est de la bombe, histoire de, and se faire V-er. They also show its usefulness for analyzing demonstrative, predicational, and (di)transitive constructions (among others). The readership of this volume is ostensibly limited to formal linguists on either side of the Atlantic, whether they have an interest in French, Construction Grammar, or both. To conclude by borrowing constructionist terminology, while the component parts of this landmark book are certainly worthy stand-alone reads, its composite structure merits attention to its entirety. University of Missouri, Kansas City Lindsy L. Myers Courcelles, Dominique, et Vincent Martines Peres, éd. Pour une histoire comparée des traductions. Paris: École des Chartes, 2012. ISBN 978-2-35723-024-8. Pp. 231. 25 a. The outcome of two conferences, this volume juxtaposes translation projects from different periods to stress the impact of translation on the development of several Romance languages and their (emerging) national literatures. The first section considers translations of Latin texts into French, Occitan, Spanish, and Italian.Veilliard addresses the contents of the Mirroir des Classiques, an electronic catalogue of medieval translations of classical authors into French and Occitan produced by students of the École nationale des chartes.Avenoza’s thought-provoking contribution asks why certain works were repeatedly translated into Spanish during the Middle Ages. Reasons for retranslations include poor circulation of the first translation (often not based on the source text), changes in technology that called for new translations, or new translations made for bibliophiles.Reynaud examines the translations of Italian Renaissance philosopher Marsilio Ficino, who not only theorized about but also practiced philosophy when he translated Plato and Neoplatonic writers such as Hermes Trismegistus while under the patronage of de Medicis. Galland considers why Giordano Bruno modified particular source texts in his translations and argues that he did so to support his own philosophical demonstrations while simultaneously situating these translations within his art of memory. Section two focuses on religious and legal translations into Latin. Bas examines Latin translations of the Quran, pointing out that if these translations included the bismillah they were either of Arabic origin or addressed to Muslims. Gari examines Ramon Llull’s Libre de Santa Maria, a text written in Catalan around 1290 but quickly translated into Latin. The historical meaning of the different readings of the Catalan text that these translations offer is stressed. Bas and Sanz’s contribution compares the prologue’s structure of the Laws of the Kingdom and of the city of Valencia in Latin versus in a Romance language, while stressing the emphasis of each. The third section is devoted to translations within the Romance language family. Whereas Riquer addresses different regional versions of the thirteenth century Tuscan tales of the Novellino, Ferrando analyzes three Catalan editions of the fifteenth century La Historia de les Amors de Paris e Viana to hypothesize about the linguistic origin of the work. Alchalabi’s contribution, on the other hand, seems out of place, focusing primarily on the maritime discourse in two chivalric romances. The contributions in the last section focus on historical translations and their contemporary interpretations. Peres examines translations of the Tirant lo Blanch to argue that the fifteenth century Catalan masterpiece had a significant impact on the European novel. Costa looks at Jaume Roigs’s Spill to highlight a particular phrase (“de fet”) and its potential meaning in the text, while Barberà ponders the translation of mythical character names, given that their spelling is often unclear and changed over time. Though somewhat uneven in quality, this volume should interest not only those Romance scholars working on the renaissance of classical thought but also the educated reader...