Zum Aussagewert motivgeschichtlicher Übersetzungsstudien [1] 1

Historical and descriptive oriented translation studies of novels face enormous practical problems, which can only be solved by a selective approach. Of special interest for the cultural history of the 19th century are literary landscapes, enabling translation scholars who deal with different literatures to collaborate on a limited textual basis. Alterations of a literary 'leitmotiv' can effect considerable shifts on all levels of the target-text, e.g., content, point of view and overall thematic structure. It seems very likely that the findings gained from comparative analysis of novel-translations do also apply to other literary forms and that they can be regarded as "translational constants" in a cultural history of literary translation.