Texts and Translations

Goals of the Series

Series Format

• The original language text and an English translation are published simultaneously, usually in companion volumes.
• Plays, short novels, and collections of stories or poems are appropriate for the series. Nonfiction works will also be considered. To keep series publications affordable, the board limits the length of each text to approximately 150 double-spaced manuscript pages (38,000 words).
• The translation is based on an authoritative edition of the work. For works of early periods, spelling in the original language text is modernized.
• The critical apparatus is in English and is included only as appropriate for advanced undergraduates. The following are customarily provided: an introduction of approximately fifteen manuscript pages containing biographical information about the author or authors and a discussion of major themes of the work and pertinent literary and social contexts; a short selected bibliography of other works of the author or authors (if relevant) and suggestions for further reading; a note on the text; and footnotes to the text only as helpful for classroom presentation. The translation volume also contains a translator's note that makes explicit what kind of translation is offered and why.

Prospectus

1. A letter briefly describing the proposed text (its length, usefulness in the classroom, and availability in other editions and the status of its reprint and translation rights)
2. Sample translations of five to ten pages with corresponding pages of the original text (if the text will be modernized, a five- to ten-page sample of the modernized text should accompany the original)
3. A table of contents
4. A CV of no more than two or three pages for each contributor
5. A five-page, abbreviated version of the introduction that outlines how the project will address upper-level undergraduate and graduate students
6. A preview of the translator’s note, sketching the interpretation that the translation will inscribe in the foreign-language text and outlining any problems likely to be involved in the translation, as well as potential solutions for these problems

Approval of Prospectus

Manuscript Preparation

1. An introduction of approximately fifteen pages, with a works-cited list; a bibliography of other works by the author (if relevant) and of further critical readings
2. A short note on the original-language text that explains its provenance and (if relevant) the approach taken toward any issues involved in editing or modernizing it
3. A legible, carefully proofread photocopy or transcribed version of the original text(s) with accompanying footnotes (if relevant)
4. A translator’s note that demonstrates awareness that a translation does not communicate the source text directly or without mediation but provides only one among a number of justifiable interpretations. The note should include the following:


• an explanation of the interpretation that the translation is inscribing in the source text
• a detailed account of the special issues and problems involved in translating this particular source text
• specifics about how these challenges were addressed and why such an approach was taken
• clarification of how the translation differs from any previous English-language translations of the source
Above all, the note should be scholarly, avoiding the scanty, impressionistic comments that often preface translations issued by commercial publishers.

5. The critical apparatus should be in English. Everything should be double-spaced. At this point, you should demonstrate that the rights to reprint and translate are obtainable; the MLA staff will advise you on these matters as necessary.

Manuscript Review