ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 introduces a theoretical and methodological framework for applying aspects of socio-narrative theory, Bourdieusian sociology and feminist translation studies to investigate the uniquely formative, informative and transformative intersection of narratives in and around Arnold Miller’s life and work. In this chapter, the theoretical tools are applied to archived correspondence between 1962 and 1986, when Miller was completing his work on the Hegel translations. Miller corresponded with C.S. Lewis and Owen Barfield, both public intellectuals and members of the Oxford literary group “The Inklings.” The typology of narratives and analysis of narrative features developed by Mona Baker and Sue-Ann Harding offers an inclusive framework open to a range of participants’ stories, including elements of Hegel’s philosophy, with diverse and sometimes unexpected, ethically charged perspectives. While a Bourdieusian approach to translation studies focussing on the distribution of capital within social fields highlights ideological and commercial dimensions of translating Hegel, insights from feminist translation studies encourage affirmative engagement with what were increasingly untimely, masculinist permutations of gender-performativity within Hegelian studies at this time. The analysis has practical consequences for contemporary, feminist-informed re-readings of Miller’s translations.
