Translating Silent Cinema

""The translation of silent films seems an oxymoron. D. Abend-David skillfully takes up the challenge. Through a detailed analysis of the adaptation and reception of four films (1923-1924), he explores the transformations from one version to the next – in German, English, Yiddish, during the screening of these films, but also with certain paratexts (advertisements, film reviews, and other public reactions). The production and distribution situations justify going beyond the comparison of subtitles (a comparison that is not always easy, however, given the state of the archives). This book brings a major piece to the history of audiovisual translation. On the basis of the micro-analyses proposed, it sketches out at least two essential issues of this historiography that is still in limbo. Should we talk about the history of a film or rather the history of its different versions (its different final cuts; its different performances depending on the place, the audience, the ideological conditions of the moment, regarding for example immigration, racism, anti-Semitism, etc.)? Besides, what can a Jewish film or in general a film defined by a nationality, an ethnolinguistic identity mean? At a time when Hollywood is in search of a narrative about the Jewishness of its origins, when controversies over cultural appropriation are taking on very different dimensions on both sides of the Atlantic, the work of D. Abend-David, with his sense of nuance and precision, is more than welcome to fuel our reflections."" -- Yves Gambier, University of Turku, Finland