Mirroring the "Long Reformation": Translating Erasmus' Colloquies in Early Modern England
This article examines how printed English translations of Erasmus' colloquies reflect the different phases of the "Long Reformation" and the changing status and reputation of Erasmus within that context. In the 1530s and 1540s, networks of evangelical translators, printers, and publis...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group
[2019]
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In: |
Reformation
Year: 2019, Volume: 24, Issue: 2, Pages: 59-75 |
IxTheo Classification: | CD Christianity and Culture KAG Church history 1500-1648; Reformation; humanism; Renaissance KBF British Isles KDB Roman Catholic Church KDE Anglican Church |
Further subjects: | B
Dialogue
B Translation B Gender B English Reformation B Paratext B Erasmus |
Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Resolving-System) |
Summary: | This article examines how printed English translations of Erasmus' colloquies reflect the different phases of the "Long Reformation" and the changing status and reputation of Erasmus within that context. In the 1530s and 1540s, networks of evangelical translators, printers, and publishers accentuated the anti-clericalism of the colloquies and enrolled their author to the reformist cause. By the seventeenth century, Erasmus' theology proved less easy to accommodate. Where Tudor translations rely on paratext to shape their readers' response, early Stuart translators adapt the Erasmian text more freely, rewriting his orthodox soteriology along Calvinist lines. At the same time, these translations also reflect fissures within the English Church: the antagonists in the Jacobean versions are no longer simply "papists," but also other, less-observant Protestants. A final, post-Restoration phase marks a retreat from harnessing Erasmus' colloquies for sectarian purposes, as translators variously promote Erasmus' irenicism, or emphasize the literariness and literary antecedents of his colloquies. The article further explores a recurrent focus on reforming female behavior as a necessary step towards achieving a godly commonweal. |
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ISSN: | 1752-0738 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Reformation
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/13574175.2019.1665266 |