The aim of the ‘Translation and Polyglossia in Early Modern England’ project is to analyse the evolution of literary polyglossia, i.e. the co-presence of several languages within one printed text, whether those languages are set in parallel or intertwined, in works printed in England over the 16th and 17th centuries. A study of translation practices will shed light on this history of polyglossia in order to show how, through the circulation of texts and people, the humanist exercise of translation recommended to learn languages shaped the English literary production of the period. This study will help understand better the ways in which a feeling of national identity was built on a common vernacular, at a time when linguistic exchanges with countries on the Continent and beyond became more intense.
This blog will record the meetings of the ‘LLCT 16-17’ seminar (‘Linguistic, Literary, Cultural Transfers, 16th-17th centuries’), which will take place four times a year, chaired by Laetitia Sansonetti (junior fellow at Institut Universitaire de France, 2018-2023), gathering French and international researchers who study linguistic, literary, and cultural transfers between the British Isles and the rest of the world in the 16th and 17th centuries.