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 ''trans ...

and scholar of

Romance languages The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...

. He authored ''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 translation of

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( ; ; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelist ...

' ''

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

''. It is the first version of the work in contemporary English; archaic language remains, 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'', which included an abridged version of his translation, in addition to English versions of two of Cervantes' ''

Novelas ejemplares ''Novelas ejemplares'' ("Exemplary Novels") is a series of twelve novellas that follow the model established in Italy. The series was written by Miguel de Cervantes between 1590 and 1612 and printed in Madrid in 1613 by Juan de la Cuesta. ''N ...

''. 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, was reprinted in the

Modern Library The Modern Library is an American book publishing Imprint (trade name), 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, Moder ...

, and has seldom been out of print. Putnam also translated Rabelais. He was known for his leftist leanings (he was a columnist for the communist '' Daily Worker''). Putnam was the father of the American philosopher

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

. 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 study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...

. 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''. * ''The Works of Aretino: Dialogues: 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: Poison-Flower of the Renaissance: A Critical and Biographical Study''. It also includes ''The Courtezan a Cortigiana' by Aretino.

References

External links

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