Inventing Utopia: The Case of Early Modern France

Scholar, Richard

Abstract

Inventing Utopia in early modern France invariably meant, in some way or other, translating the text. This was a complex process activating the full range of meanings that French in the period lent to the verb traduire: it involved transportation, appropriation, and transformation. French translators, starting with Jean Le Blond in 1550, made Thomas More’s Latin text available to readers of their native language and thus imported intellectual goods from the dominant international language of learning to the fledgling vernacular of an emerging European nation-state. They viewed this work of importation not only as a contribution to the linguistic enrichment of French, but as part of a broader cultural transfer of learning and other forms of ‘soft power’ (translatio studii) to accompany the movement of imperial power (translatio imperii) westwards, to Paris. Their work invariably brought the text across marked boundaries – of political geography, confessional allegiance, and genre – and relocated it in new settings. At times, as we shall see, it invented Utopia anew.

Citation

Scholar, R. (2023). Inventing Utopia: The Case of Early Modern France. In C. Shrank, & P. Withington (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Thomas More’s Utopia. Oxford University Press

• Acceptance Date: Nov 1, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Nov 30, 2023
• Publication Date: Nov 30, 2023
• Deposit Date: Nov 1, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 1, 2025
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Book Title: The Oxford Handbook of Thomas More’s Utopia
• ISBN: 9780198881018
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1620380
• Publisher URL: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-thomas-mores-utopia-9780198881018?q=The%20Oxford%20Handbook%20of%20Thomas%20More%E2%80%99s%20Utopia&lang=en&cc=gb