Presentation
Research group Translat studies medieval Catalan translations and the pervasiveness of Classical literature in medieval letters.
We created and maintain an ongoing catalogue of medieval Catalan translations and adaptations that can be accessed through either a database or a census.
Translat DB includes translations of works of spirituality, philosophy, history, and literature, and a sample of juridical and hagiographical texts. With a few exceptions, our catalogue tends to exclude biblical, scientific, liturgical, and homiletic works. For biblical translations see Corpus Biblicum Catalanicum. Scientific translations can be found at Sciència.cat. For Catalan translations of Ramon Llull’s Latin texts see Base de Dades Ramon Llull.
Our research project is not restricted to translations, but also pays attention to the different forms in which written culture has been transmitted during the Middle Ages and the early modern period, for example, in adaptations, extensive fragments included in compendia, in texts presented as original works which are, however, translations of other texts, and in scholastic commentaries integrated in original texts or in translations.
Our digital archive will provide access to additional catalogues and research materials (in progress).
We also edit the online journal Translat Library, based at the University of Massachusets Amherst. The journal publishes short articles on manuscripts, printed books and texts related to the reception of Classical and humanistic literary cultures.
Our research team has authored The Classical Tradition in Medieval Catalan, 1300-1500: Translation, Imitation, and Literacy (Woodbridge: Tamesis, 2018). This monograph provides a concise introduction to the medieval Crown of Aragon, a catalogue of translations into Catalan of texts from Classical antiquity through the Italian Renaissance, and a critical study of the influence of the Classics in five major works: Bernat Metge’s Lo somni, Joanot Martorell’sTirant lo Blanc, the anonymous Curial e Güelfa, Ausiàs March’s poetry, and Joan Roís de Corella’s prose.