Translating Silent Cinema: Film History, National Culture, and The Roaring Twenties(Routledge Advances in Film Studies)

Translating Silent Cinema examines closely the translation, adaptation, and reception of three silent films in English, German, and Yiddish to argue that the study of film translation should extend beyond textual translation to a wide selection of primary materials and the consideration of social, economic, cultural, and historical contexts. Close readings of Der Kaufmann von Venedig [The Merchant of Venice] (1923), Das alte Gesetz [The Ancient Law] (1923), and Ost und West [East and West] (1923) raise a theoretical question: Can we discuss films in the same way that we discuss theater productions, regarding each individual screening as a performance, and compose a “performance history” of different films? As no two film screenings are the same, the author highlights the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to translation that combines insights from film studies, translation studies, and cultural and historical contexts. Furthermore, in linguistic comparison and in the study of the reception of the films in each language, this book argues that each film is the subject of very different receptions under very different circumstances. It also analyzes the relevance of films that were made in Austria and in Germany during the 1920s on Jewish themes to a contemporary debate about immigration, racism, and discrimination. This book’s pioneering analysis of the study of film translation encompasses a wide context of multiplicity of ideologies, economic interests, and historical contexts. It will be of interest for readers in translation studies (particularly in audiovisual translation), film studies, German studies (and German cinema), and Jewish studies (and cinema).

Table of Contents:
Introduction Chapter 1. Der Kaufmann von Venedig (1923) Chapter 2. Das alte Gesetz (1923) Chapter 3. Ost und West (1923) Epilogue: Die Stadt ohne Juden (1924) Index

About the Author :
Dror Abend-David is Lecturer at the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at SUNY New Paltz, USA.

Review :
"The translation of silent films seems an oxymoron. D. Abend-David skillfully takes up the challenge. Through a detailed analysis of the adaptation and reception of four films (1923-1924), he explores the transformations from one version to the next – in German, English, Yiddish, during the screening of these films, but also with certain paratexts (advertisements, film reviews, and other public reactions). The production and distribution situations justify going beyond the comparison of subtitles (a comparison that is not always easy, however, given the state of the archives). This book brings a major piece to the history of audiovisual translation. On the basis of the micro-analyses proposed, it sketches out at least two essential issues of this historiography that is still in limbo. Should we talk about the history of a film or rather the history of its different versions (its different final cuts; its different performances depending on the place, the audience, the ideological conditions of the moment, regarding for example immigration, racism, anti-Semitism, etc.)? Besides, what can a Jewish film or in general a film defined by a nationality, an ethnolinguistic identity mean? At a time when Hollywood is in search of a narrative about the Jewishness of its origins, when controversies over cultural appropriation are taking on very different dimensions on both sides of the Atlantic, the work of D. Abend-David, with his sense of nuance and precision, is more than welcome to fuel our reflections." -- Yves Gambier, University of Turku, Finland