Translating and illustrating the eighteenth-century novel

Abstract

The productive relationship between translation and illustration exemplified in the eighteenth-century novel has, until recently, been almost completely ignored. A number of modern studies have identified the importance of illustration in the rise of the novel, considering the significance of its interaction with texts of the eighteenth century. However, there has been little evaluation of illustration in relation to the circulation of works from one country to another, or of the role it might play in the process of translation. Through several case studies and in particular Gravelots plates for Tom Jones (1750) and La Nouvelle Héloïse (1761), this article explores the complex relationships between translating and illustrating literature in the Enlightenment, asking three questions: What does it mean to illustrate a translation? Can one translate an illustration? Is an illustrator himself a translator?