François Guizot

A life in the century (1787-1874)

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Guizot and translation

Audio sources. Books by Guizot translated into English and read aloud.

Ideology and Translation. Diplomacy Beyond Language: François Guizot and Translation

Summary:
«Beyond language, diplomacy. François Guizot and translation - Critics generally take very little interest in the translation or translators of non-literary texts written in France in the early nineteenth century. However, this kind of omission seems particularly deliberate in the case of François Guizot (1787-1874) who, before being appointed Prime Minister of France or Ambassador to England, translated important English texts into French. The foundations of his thinking on linguistic difference are clearly apparent in his ideological representation of history. Guizot's writings on the history of France and England, as well as those dealing with the evolution of language, seem to indicate that translation would, over time, become an obsolete practice. In his view, nations, like languages, would naturally move towards an ultimate unity, a utopian equality where differences - political or linguistic - would be definitively abolished.»