Marie de Gournay’s Reflections on the Art of Translation (based on the Treatise Letter to Monsignor de Gelas)

Abstract

The paper highlights Marie de Gournayʼs considerations, the author of the Renaissance, on the methods of translation, which she set out in her treatise A Letter to Monsignor de Gelas. It is stated that translation, as an intellectual activity, the main purpose of which is to enrich the national culture and improve the native language, has always been a privileged topic of reflection for this creative woman. Notes on this can be found in several treatises, which she collected in her work Les advis ou Les présens de la demoiselle de Gournay (1641). It is in these texts that she best describes her theory of translation. The concept of “theory” should be understood not from the standpoint of modern interpretation, but in the meaning of the original Greek word “theory”, i.e. a coherent presentation of explanations, concepts, ideas, proposals, laws and hypotheses. Thus, it is a question of foregrounding this “theory” in the context of an in-depth analysis of the authorʼs letter to Monsignor de Gelas. The author claims that Marie de Gournауʼs views deserve attention in contemporary discussions on translation and that her ideas about the art of translation still remain constructive and relevant, despite being put forward nearly five centuries ago.