Eugene Eoyang’s second book on translation (his first was The transparent eye, 1993) is of rather uneven quality, reflecting the fact that he has collected together both lectures and previously published papers, and that these works [ p. 187 ]stretch over a decade (1990–2000) rather than being the result of a concentrated effort. There are several fine essays (I particularly enjoyed Chapters 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, and 10), but not all of the essays are of such high quality, and the last of the four sections, “Divertissements” is rather light fare for a scholarly work, possibly included to fill out what otherwise would have been a rather slim volume. Still, the collection makes available several fine essays which the student of translation might find hard to track down otherwise.

References

Benjamin, Walter

2002 “The task of the translator”. Marcus Bullock, ed. Walter Benjamin: Selected writings 1: 1913–1926. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Eoyang, Eugene

1993 The transparent eye: Reflections on translation, Chinese literature, and comparative poetics. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Steiner, George

1975 After Babel: Aspects of language and translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.