Book review
Dror Abend-David. “Scorned my nation”: A comparison of translations of The merchant of Venice into German, Hebrew, and Yiddish
New York-Washington DC/Baltimore-Bern-Frankfurt am Main- Berlin-Brussels-Vienna-Oxford: Peter Lang, 2003. 247 pp. ISBN 0-8204-5798-1 € 69,40. (Comparative Cultures and Literatures, 16).

Reviewed by Rachel Weissbrod
Ramat Gan
Table of contents

Supposedly written between 1596 and 1598, The merchant of Venice was created as a romantic comedy ending in love and harmony. Over the centuries the comedy underwent a drastic transformation. It became a highly charged political drama, at times—a tragedy, focusing on the character of the Jew, Shylock. This process, which took place mainly outside England, is the subject matter of Abend-David’s impressive book. The author sets out to supply “the missing link”—the chain of metamorphoses leading from “The Jew/that Shakespeare drew” (in the alleged words of Alexander Pope) to the Jew as portrayed in later translations and adaptations of the play. Focusing on the German, Yiddish and Hebrew versions, his work encompasses theatrical performances, prose and poetry paraphrases, cinematic adaptations and more. In fact, Abend-David refers to the entire discourse surrounding the play—including comments, [ p. 194 ]criticism, allusions and the frequent use of Shylock as a metaphor for the Jewish people or character.

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price. Direct PDF access to this article can be purchased through our e-platform.

References

Derrida, Jacques
1985 The ear of the Other: otobiography, transference, translation: Texts and discussions with Jacques Derrida, trs. Peggy Kamuf and Avital Ronell. Christie V. McDonald, ed. London: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
2001 “What is a ‘relevant’ translation” tr. Lawrence Venuti. Critical inquiry 27:2. 174–200. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Even-Zohar, Itamar
1978 Papers in historical poetics. Tel Aviv: The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics.Google Scholar
1990 Polysystem studies [a special issue of Poetics today 11:1].Google Scholar
1997 “The making of culture repertoire and the role of transfer”. Target 9:2. 373–381. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Robinson, Douglas
1991 The translator’s turn. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Toury, Gideon
1995 Descriptive Translation Studies and beyond. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar