Jiří Levý (1926–1967) was a
Czech literary theoretician, literary historian and translation theoretician. Levý's work was crucial for the development of
translation theory in Czechoslovakia and it has subsequently influenced scholars internationally.
Early life and career
Jiří Levý was born on 8 August 1926 in Košice (East
Slovakia), and died on 17 January 1967 in Brno (South
Moravia).
Levý studied
English and
Czech at
Masaryk University in
Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
(concluded in 1949).
From 1950 to 1963, he lectured at
Palacký University of Olomouc.
From 1964 onwards, Levý worked at the Department of Czech Literature at Masaryk’s University in Brno.
His theses include:
The Development of Translation Theories and Methods in the
Czech Literature (1957)
Fundamental Problems of the Theory of Translation (1958)
Problems of Comparative Versification (1963)
Levý also lectured on the theory of
translation abroad (e.g. in
Dubrovnik,
Warsaw,
Hamburg,
Vienna,
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
).
Publications
Levý organized two conferences on the theory of verse. He founded the Group for Exact Methods and Interdisciplinary Relations. He was a member of the Union of Czechoslovak Writers, worked for the Translation Department of the Union of Czech Writers, and he was a member of the International Federation of Translators.
Levý’s first published monograph, ''Czech Theories of Translation'', includes his (PhD.) thesis ''The Development of Translation Theories and Methods in the Czech Literature'' as well as a series of significant theorizing essays by Czech translators. Thus, the monograph is concerned with translation norms from the 15th century until 1945.
Levý’s second monograph, ''The Art of Translation'', is a fundamental opus on the translation of “artistic literature” (belles lettres). It deals with the genesis and composition of a literary translation. It puts emphasis on the translation of poetry. It was translated into
German in 1969,
Russian in 1974, and
Serbo-Croatian in 1982 (see above).
Levý was also concerned with the theory of
verse
Verse may refer to:
Poetry
* Verse, an occasional synonym for poetry
* Verse, a metrical structure, a stanza
* Blank verse, a type of poetry having regular meter but no rhyme
* Free verse, a type of poetry written without the use of strict me ...
. In many of his essays, he deals with the problems of verse translation ("Isochronism of Facts and Isosyllabism as Factors of the Poetic Rhythm"; "Verse Rhythm as a Means of Dramatic Interpretation"; "The Verse of the Czech Folk Poetry and its Echoes"; "The Development of the Czech Theatre Blank-Verse," etc.).
Levý also wrote significant essays on
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...
,
Walt Whitman,
Ben Jonson and others.
The collection of his essays ''Will the Study of Literature Become an Exact Science?'' appeared posthumously in 1971.
According to Levý, translation is a process of communication: the objective of translation is to give the knowledge of the original to the foreign reader. From the point of view of the working situation of the translator at any moment of his work, translating is a decision process. For example, the translator is given the following title to translate: ''Der gute Mensch''. S/he can translate it in two variants: "The Good Man" or "The Good Woman."
[Actually, the standard translation would be a third choice not mentioned here: "The Good Person." See e.g. '']The Good Person of Szechwan
''The Good Person of Szechwan'' (german: Der gute Mensch von Sezuan, first translated less literally as ''The Good Man of Setzuan'') is a play written by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, in collaboration with Margarete Steffin and Ruth Ber ...
'' as the established English translation of Brecht's '' :de:Der gute Mensch von Sezuan''--initially translated "The Good Woman of Szechuan."
Key monographs
LEVÝ, Jiří. 1957 (1996). České teorie překladu
Czech Theories of Translation Prague.
LEVÝ, Jiří. 1963 (1983, 1998, 2012). Umění překladu
The Art of Translation Prague.
LEVÝ, Jiří. 1971. Bude literární věda exaktní vědou?
ill the Study of Literature Become an Exact Science? Prague: Československý spisovatel.
Monagraphs in English translation
Key articles in English and German
LEVÝ, Jiří. 1964. Translation in Czechoslovakia. In: Babel 10, No. 2, pp. 73–76.
LEVÝ, Jiří. 1965. Die Theorie des Verses – ihre matematische Aspekte. In: Matematik und Dichtung. Munich, pp. 211–231.
LEVÝ, Jiří. 1966. Translation as a Decision Process. In: To Honor Roman Jakobson: Essays on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday. 11 October 1966. The Hague.
LEVÝ, Jiří. 1967. Translation in Czechoslovakia. In: Ten Years of Translation – Proceedings of the Fourth Congress of the International Federation of Translators. Dubrovnik 1963. Oxford 1967. Pp. 211–218.
LEVÝ, Jiří. 1969. Mathematical Aspects of the Theory of Verse. In: Statistics and Style. Ed. L. Doležel. New York, American Elsevier Publishing Company. Pp. 95–112.
LEVÝ, Jiří. 1970. Generative Poetics. In: Sign, Language, Culture. The Hague, Mouton. Pp. 548–557.
LEVÝ, Jiří. 1971. Generative Poetik. In: Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik. Ergebnisse und Perspektiven II/2. Frankfurt am Main, Athenäum. Pp. 554–567.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levy, Jiri
1926 births
1967 deaths
Academic staff of Masaryk University
Translation scholars
Masaryk University alumni
Academic staff of Palacký University Olomouc