Towards the Name and Nature of Translator Studies: a Case Study of Shakespeare’s Translators in Gujarati.

Abstract

Translation history in Gujarat has been focused on addressing objective questions pertaining to translations, such as which translation occurred in which year and sometimes, who translated them. However, in order to arrive at a holistic and fuller account of translation history, we need to delve deeper into these facts and derive newer interpretations. This paper argues that by focusing on the human dimension of the translation, i.e. translator studies, we can get a more authentic and complete account of translation history of these translations. For the purpose of substantiating this claim, we have taken up the case study of Shakespeare’s translators in Gujarati. This paper shows that by studying about the life and works of these translators in detail, we can understand the translations of Shakespeare’s plays in Gujarati in a more comprehensive way. It concludes by emphasising on the need of translator studies and how this study can open up new vistas of research in the field of translation studies.