A Study of the History of Translation of the Plays of William Shakespeare from English into Gujarati

Abstract

This thesis titled A Study of the History of Translation of the Plays of William Shakespeare from English into Gujarati aims to explore the conditions that led translators to translate the plays of William Shakespeare from English into Gujarati during the late 19th and 20th century. It sheds light on the role and contribution of different translators; and the role different agencies and patrons played in the shaping these translations. Translation history in India is still in its nascent stage but is slowly gaining momentum. When we talk about translations done from and into Gujarati from other languages, there is barely any translation history recorded for such translations. A few stray attempts have been made to enlist facts such who translated what and in which year, which is far different from the actual translation history of those translations. Various scholars in the West have put forth their ideas about how and what should be the methodology of writing translation history, which forms the basis of this thesis. Using those insights, a methodology to approach translation history of the selected plays has been discussed in detail in this thesis. This research goes beyond enlisting the who, what and when of the selected translations. There is an in-depth analysis of the context, form, equivalence and translation strategies deployed by each translator so as to arrive at a more comprehensive and authentic account of the translation history of the translations selected for the study. Lastly, this study talks about the scope for budding researchers in the field of translation history and how they can undertake further research in this field. newline