Samuel Putnam (October 10, 1892 – January 15, 1950) was an American

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

and scholar of

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...

. He is also noteworthy as the author of ''Paris Was Our Mistress'', a memoir on writers and artists associated with the American ex-patriate community in Paris in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Work

Putnam's most famous work is his 1949

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

translation of

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best kno ...

's ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...

''. It is the first version of the work in what would today be considered contemporary English; there is still archaic language, but less than in earlier English versions. The language is formal when spoken by educated characters, but seldom old-fashioned, while the peasant characters speak in colloquial modern English. Putnam worked on the translation for 12 years. He also published a companion volume, '' The Portable Cervantes'', that included an abridged version of his translation, in addition to English versions of two of Cervantes's '' Novelas ejemplares''. Daniel Eisenberg, comparing translations of ''Don Quixote'', called Putnam's translation the most "sensitive", and by far the best documented. Putnam's complete translation, originally published by

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquir ...

, was reprinted in the

Modern Library The Modern Library is an American book publishing imprint and formerly the parent company of Random House. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, Modern Library became an ...

, and has seldom been out of print since its publication. Putnam was also a noted translator of Rabelais. He was known for his leftist leanings (he was a columnist for the communist ''

Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were m ...

''). Putnam was the father of noted American philosopher

Hilary Putnam Hilary Whitehall Putnam (; July 31, 1926 – March 13, 2016) was an American philosopher, mathematician, and computer scientist, and a major figure in analytic philosophy in the second half of the 20th century. He made significant contributions ...

. Hilary Putnam made his first published appearance in his father's ''Don Quixote'' translation, in a footnote explaining a joke from the text in terms of

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from prem ...

. Putnam died in 1950 at the age of 57 in his home in New Jersey.

Bibliography

*
Don Quixote de la Mancha
' translated by Samuel Putnam, with a "Translator's Introduction" by Mr. Putnam (New York:

, 1998). * ''The Works of Aretino: Letters and Sonnets: Translated into English from the original Italian, with a critical and biographical essay by Samuel Putnam'' (New York: Covici-Friede Publishers, 1926, 1933). This book includes ''Pietro Aretino: A Biography Translated from the Italian of Francesco de Sanctis by Samuel Putnam''.

References

External links

*
Samuel Putnam Papers, 1908-1950
at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Special Collections Research Center {{DEFAULTSORT:Putnam, Samuel 1892 births 1950 deaths American translators Spanish–English translators People from Vermilion County, Illinois 20th-century translators Translators of Miguel de Cervantes