10. Translators And Traitors: The Problems Of Bible Translation
10
TRANSLATORS
AND TRAITORS:
THE PROBLEMS OF
BIBLE TRANSLATION
The translators of the King James Bible faced issues that have confronted translators down the centuries. How can the complexities of a text originally written in one language be expressed in another? The difficulty is traditionally expressed in an Italian saying: “the translator is a traitor.” How can one combine faithfulness to the text with elegance of translation? It is a perennial issue that torments those who are called to translate. The startling and rather crude suggestion of a French writer may be noted here: translations, he opined, are like women: if they are beautiful, they are not faithful; if they are faithful, they are not beautiful. Perhaps a nugget of truth lies hidden in that outrageous statement.
Yet some would argue that the quality of the text under consideration in this specific case raises particular challenges, as well as conferring some distinct advantages. We shall be considering some of those challenges presently; at this point, we may note the view of Matthew Arnold on the unique nature of the Bible as an object of translation. In his 1861 lectures On Translating Homer, Arnold suggested that the Bible had an inherent dignity, which would still be evident in its English translation:
He [the translator] will find one English book and one only, where, as in the Iliad itself, perfect plainness of speech is allied with perfect nobleness; and that book is the Bible.
Arnold clearly took the view that simplicity and nobility went hand in hand, inseparably in the Bible, both in its original and its translation. The translators, in effect, could not but be guided and directed by the quality of the original.
Something like this understanding of translation lay behind the King James translation. In his Seventy-Fifth Sermon, the great English preacher and poet John Donne (1572–1631) declared his judgment that “the Holy Ghost is an eloquent author, a vehement and an abundant author, but yet not luxuriant.” The passage in Donne's sermon gives no indication of irony or sarcasm; Donne's belief is clearly that the biblical text itself is possessed of an eloquent style, and that a translation that aims at accuracy will allow this stylistic excellence to be carried over into the resulting English. Elegance results from a faithful translation, and does not require to be imposed upon the text. There was thus no sense of the translators imposing a style or “voice” upon the Bible; they believed such a voice to be present already, and that the process of translation, if accurately and carefully executed, would allow it to be retained and projected in the English language.
In this chapter, we shall begin to explore the issues and challenges that faced the six companies of translators assembled by King James. We begin by examining the nature of the text that was to be translated—the Bible itself.