Joseph Smith’s uses of pseudo-, intralingual and intersemiotic translation in the creation of the Mormon canon: The Book of Mormon, the Bible and the Book of Abraham

Roberto Valdeón

doi:10.1556/Acr.15.2014.2.4

Across Languages and Cultures

Volume/Issue:: Volume 15: Issue 2

Joseph Smith’s uses of pseudo-, intralingual and intersemiotic translation in the creation of the Mormon canon: The Book of Mormon, the Bible and the Book of Abraham

Author:

Roberto Valdeón

Roberto Valdeón Universidad de Oviedo Departamento de Filología Anglogermánica y Francesa 33011 Oviedo Spain

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Pages:: 219–241

Online Publication Date:: 29 Oct 2014

Publication Date:: 01 Dec 2014

Article Category:: Journal Article

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1556/Acr.15.2014.2.4

Keywords:: Egyptian papyri; pseudotranslation; intralingual translation; intersemiotic translation

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The 19^th century Book of Mormon, which was at the base of the creation and spread of a new religious movement in the United States, has been used as an example of what translation scholars have called pseudo-translations (Toury 1995, 2005; Hermans 2007; Vidal 2010). However, the Mormon canon is based upon other documents, also presented as translations to Mormon believers. This paper examines the use of translation as the instrument of normalization of the Mormon movement. The first sections provide a short introduction to the emergence of Mormonism in New York State and to the role of translation in the spread of Christianity. From here we move to study the three types of translations Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church, claimed to have resorted to for the production of his three major works, i.e. The Book of Mormon, the translation of the Bible and the Book of Abraham. In other words, pseudo-translation, interlingual translation and intersemiotic translation. The final section contends that translation is the key element that gives cohesion to the three. It also discusses a controversial component of the original “translated” doctrine: the allegations that racism is present in the original works and the ways in which the Church has coped with such allegations.

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Across Languages and Cultures

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Andrew CHESTERMAN (University of Helsinki, Finland)
Kirsten MALMKJÆR (University of Leicester, UK)
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Rodica DIMITRIU (Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” Iasi, Romania)
Birgitta Englund DIMITROVA (Stockholm University, Sweden)
Sylvia KALINA (Cologne Technical University, Germany)
Haidee KOTZE (Utrecht University, The Netherlands)
Sara LAVIOSA (Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Italy)
Brian MOSSOP (York University, Toronto, Canada)
Orero PILAR (Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain)
Gábor PRÓSZÉKY (Hungarian Research Institute for Linguistics, Hungary)
Alessandra RICCARDI (University of Trieste, Italy)
Edina ROBIN (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary)
Myriam SALAMA-CARR (University of Manchester, UK)
Mohammad Saleh SANATIFAR (independent researcher, Iran)
Sanjun SUN (Beijing Foreign Studies University, China)
Anikó SOHÁR (Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Hungary)
Sonia VANDEPITTE (University of Gent, Belgium)
Albert VERMES (Eszterházy Károly University, Hungary)
Yifan ZHU (Shanghai Jiao Tong Univeristy, China)

Prof. Dr. Krisztina KÁROLY
School of English and American Studies, Eötvös Loránd University
H-1088 Budapest, Rákóczi út 5., Hungary
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