ABSTRACT

Medieval translations can be a shaping force in emerging vernacular literatures, as Marie de France’s Fresne and its Old Norse and Middle English translations demonstrate. While Sif Ríkharðsdóttir highlights that each version is adapted to its target literature, these texts also draw on the cultural authority of translatio studii to legitimize innovation. This article traces each text’s influence using Itamar Even-Zohar’s polysystem theory, having determined their position within the literary polysystem through textual and manuscript contexts. Each version constructs its own cultural authority to reshape the polysystem for different ideological purposes, thus producing texts that differ both from their source material and the norms of their target literatures. This is most apparent in their representations of courtliness: by invoking translatio studii, the Anglo-Norman Fresne establishes an exemplar of sincere interiority-based courtesy, whereas the Old Norse Eskia instrumentalizes French prestige to legitimize a performative ideal of courtliness in Norwegian literature. Conversely, the Middle English Lay le Freine uses translatio to reinvent its genre as the socially inclusive Middle English Breton lay, where courtliness is primarily a literary effect. Intervernacular translations therefore emerge as a key source of innovation in vernacular polysystems, pointing towards a new approach to comparative medieval literature.

摘要

中世纪的翻译可以成为新兴白话文学的塑造力量，正如玛丽·德·法兰西 (Marie de France) 的弗雷讷 ( Fresne )及其古挪威语和中古英语翻译所证明的那样。虽然 Sif Ríkharðsdóttir 强调每个版本都适应其目标文学，但这些文本也借鉴了翻译研究的文化权威使创新合法化。本文使用 Itamar Even-Zohar 的多元系统理论追溯了每个文本的影响，通过文本和手稿上下文确定了它们在文学多元系统中的位置。每个版本都构建了自己的文化权威，为不同的意识形态目的重塑多元系统，从而产生既不同于其源材料又不同于其目标文学规范的文本。这在他们对礼貌的表现中最为明显：通过调用translatio studii，盎格鲁-诺曼弗雷纳人建立了真诚的基于内在的礼貌的典范，而古挪威的Eskia利用法国的声望使挪威文学中礼貌的表演理想合法化。相反，中古英语Lay le Freine使用translatio将其类型重塑为具有社会包容性的中古英语布列塔尼 lay，其中礼貌主要是一种文学效果。因此，白话翻译成为白话多元系统创新的关键来源，指向比较中世纪文学的新方法。