Research Catalog
The art of Bible translation
- Title
- The art of Bible translation / Robert Alter.
- Author
- Alter, Robert
- Publication
- Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2019]
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | JFD 19-537 | Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 |
Details
- Description
- xvi, 127 pages; 23 cm
- Summary
- In this brief book, award-winning biblical translator and acclaimed literary critic Robert Alter offers a personal and passionate account of what he learned about the art of Bible translation over the two decades he spent completing his own English version of the Hebrew Bible. Alter's literary training gave him the advantage of seeing that a translation of the Bible can convey the text's meaning only by trying to capture the powerful and subtle literary style of the biblical Hebrew, something the modern English versions don't do justice to. The Bible's style, Alter writes, "is not some sort of aesthetic embellishment of the 'message' of Scripture but the vital medium through which the biblical vision of God, human nature, history, politics, society, and moral value is conveyed." And, as the translators of the King James Version knew, the authority of the Bible is inseparable from its literary authority. For these reasons, the Bible can be brought to life in English only by re-creating its literary virtuosity, and Alter discusses the principal aspects of style in the Hebrew Bible that any translator should try to reproduce: word choice, syntax, word play and sound play, rhythm, and dialogue. In the process, he provides an illuminating and accessible introduction to biblical style that also offers insights about the art of translation far beyond the Bible. -- ‡c From publisher's description.
- Subjects
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 123-124) and index.
- Contents
- 1. The eclipse of Bible translation -- 2. Syntax -- 3. Word choice -- 4. Sound play and word play -- 5. Rhythm -- 6. The language of dialogue.
- Call Number
- JFD 19-537
- ISBN
- 9780691181493
- 0691181497
- LCCN
- 2018963488
- OCLC
- 1051134797
- Author
- Alter, Robert, author.
- Title
- The art of Bible translation / Robert Alter.
- Publisher
- Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2019]
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 123-124) and index.
- Research Call Number
- JFD 19-537