Translating with books: Leonardo Bruni as a theorist of intertextuality in translation

This essay employs a framework proposed by Lawrence Venuti to consider Leonardo Bruni’s On the Correct Way to Translate as a theory of intertextuality in translation. The essay sheds light on Bruni’s thoughts about relations between the source text and other texts, relations between the source text and the translation, and relations between the translation and other texts, particularly those between two translations of the same source text into the same target language. As regards the latter set of intertextual relations, the essay specifically emphasizes that Bruni’s treatise is a seminal text not only about translation, but also about retranslation. The literature adressing On the Correct Way to Translate is primarily historicizing in its approach, positioning it within the context of Renaissance translation theory and practise. While this essay draws in part on existing research on Bruni, it also seeks to wrestle his treatise from a historicist grip by applying Venuti’s framework and juxtaposing the text with other modern translation theories. The overall aim is to bring into clearer focus Bruni’s awareness that translating implies engaging with numerous textual sources in both the source and target languages.