Thomas Shelton
Encyclopedia
Thomas Shelton was the English
translator of Don Quixote. Shelton's was the first translation of the novel into any language.
were three persons bearing the name Thomas Shelton, and though all died before 1600 he was probably a member of the same family. He has been identified with the Thomas Shelton who wrote a sonnet
prefixed to the Restitution of Decayed Intelligence (1605) of Richard Verstegan, who was most likely the friend referred to in Shelton's preface, for there is reason to believe that both of them were then involved in the intrigues of the Roman Catholics in England.
He seems to have been employed in carrying letters to persons in England from Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam at Dublin Castle
. But in 1599 he apparently acted as agent for Florence McCarthy to offer his service to the king of Spain
, a commission for which his knowledge of Spanish especially fitted him. Soon afterwards an official précis of the facts was drawn up, in which Shelton was implicated by name. A second version of this document in 1617 is actually signed by him, but all reference to his share in the matter is omitted. Lady Suffolk, the wife of his patron, received yearly £1000 in secret service money from the Spanish king, and Shelton may have been her accomplice. If the "many affairs of his preface were official he would not wish to call attention to his antecedents by owning friendship with Verstegan".
", that he "Translated some five or six yeares agoe, The Historie of Don-Quixote, out of the Spanish
tongue, into the English ... in the space of forty daies: being therunto more than half enforced, through the importunitie of a very deere friend, that was desirous to understand the subject."
Shelton did not use the original edition of the First Part of Cervantes
' masterpiece, but a version published in the original Spanish in Brussels
in 1607. Shelton's translation of the First Part of the novel was published while Cervantes was still alive. On the appearance of the Brussels imprint of the Second Part of Don Quixote in 1616, the year of Cervantes's death, Shelton translated that also into English, completing his task in 1620, and printing at the same time a revised edition of the First Part.
His performance has become a classic among English translations for its racy, spirited rendering of the original, but has been faulted by translators such as John Ormsby
(who had a fondness for it), for being so literal that certain words and phrases are completely mistranslated. ("Gustos", for example, means "delights" or "likings", but Shelton renders it as "gusts", and "dedos", which literally means "fingers", is rendered as such by Shelton, although the word can also mean "inches", which is the way Cervantes means it.) Ormsby states, in his introduction to his own 1885 translation, that Shelton failed to recognize that a Spanish word can have more than one shade of meaning, and accuses Shelton of not having had a good knowledge of Spanish
. In his introduction to the Tudor Translations (1896) reprint of Shelton's translations, James Fitzmaurice-Kelly
sees the performance otherwise: "Shelton's title to remembrance is based upon the broadest grounds. He had no sympathy for the arid accuracy that juggles with a gerund or toys with the crabbed subjunctive. From the subtleties of syntax, as from the bonds of prosody he sallies free; and the owls of pedantry have bitterly resented his arrogant disdain for them and theirs. And they have sought to avenge themselves, after their manner, by reproaching him with taking a disjunctive for an interjection, and with confounding of predicate and subject. They act after their kind. But Shelton's view of his function was ampler and nobler than the hidebound grammarian's. He appeals to the pure lover of literature; and as a man of letters he survives."
Both parts of Shelton's "Don Quixote" are available in Mr Fitzmaurice-Kelly's reprint for the Tudor Translations (1896), which itself was reprinted by AMS Press in 1967 (see References), and the First Part was also included in the famous Harvard Classics
; the translation of the complete novel is reproduced in Macmillan's "Library of English Classics" with an introduction by A. W. Pollard, who incorporates the suggestions made by A. T. Wright in his Thomas Shelton, Translator.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
translator of Don Quixote. Shelton's was the first translation of the novel into any language.
Life
Light was thrown on Thomas Shelton's personal history by the researches of Alexander T Wright in a paper published in October 1898. Among the kinsfolk of the earl of SuffolkEarl of Suffolk
Earl of Suffolk is a title that has been created four times in the Peerage of England. The first creation, in tandem with the creation of the title of Earl of Norfolk, came before 1069 in favour of Ralph the Staller; but the title was forfeited by his heir, Ralph de Guader, in 1074...
were three persons bearing the name Thomas Shelton, and though all died before 1600 he was probably a member of the same family. He has been identified with the Thomas Shelton who wrote a sonnet
Sonnet
A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
prefixed to the Restitution of Decayed Intelligence (1605) of Richard Verstegan, who was most likely the friend referred to in Shelton's preface, for there is reason to believe that both of them were then involved in the intrigues of the Roman Catholics in England.
He seems to have been employed in carrying letters to persons in England from Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam at Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle
Dublin Castle off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, was until 1922 the fortified seat of British rule in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland...
. But in 1599 he apparently acted as agent for Florence McCarthy to offer his service to the king of Spain
Philip III of Spain
Philip III , also known as Philip the Pious, was the King of Spain and King of Portugal and the Algarves, where he ruled as Philip II , from 1598 until his death...
, a commission for which his knowledge of Spanish especially fitted him. Soon afterwards an official précis of the facts was drawn up, in which Shelton was implicated by name. A second version of this document in 1617 is actually signed by him, but all reference to his share in the matter is omitted. Lady Suffolk, the wife of his patron, received yearly £1000 in secret service money from the Spanish king, and Shelton may have been her accomplice. If the "many affairs of his preface were official he would not wish to call attention to his antecedents by owning friendship with Verstegan".
The Quixote translation
In the dedication of The delightfull history of the wittie knight, Don Quishote vjd (1612) he explains to his patron, Lord Howard de Walden, afterwards 2nd Earl of SuffolkTheophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk
Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, KG was an English nobleman and politician.Born at the family estate of Saffron Walden, he was the son of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, by his second wife Catherine Knyvet of Charlton, and succeeded his father in 1626.Sir Theophilus Howard was named in...
", that he "Translated some five or six yeares agoe, The Historie of Don-Quixote, out of the Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
tongue, into the English ... in the space of forty daies: being therunto more than half enforced, through the importunitie of a very deere friend, that was desirous to understand the subject."
Shelton did not use the original edition of the First Part of Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
' masterpiece, but a version published in the original Spanish in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
in 1607. Shelton's translation of the First Part of the novel was published while Cervantes was still alive. On the appearance of the Brussels imprint of the Second Part of Don Quixote in 1616, the year of Cervantes's death, Shelton translated that also into English, completing his task in 1620, and printing at the same time a revised edition of the First Part.
His performance has become a classic among English translations for its racy, spirited rendering of the original, but has been faulted by translators such as John Ormsby
John Ormsby
John Ormsby was a nineteenth-century British translator. He is most famous for his 1885 English translation of Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote de la Mancha, perhaps the most scholarly and accurate English translation of the novel up to that time...
(who had a fondness for it), for being so literal that certain words and phrases are completely mistranslated. ("Gustos", for example, means "delights" or "likings", but Shelton renders it as "gusts", and "dedos", which literally means "fingers", is rendered as such by Shelton, although the word can also mean "inches", which is the way Cervantes means it.) Ormsby states, in his introduction to his own 1885 translation, that Shelton failed to recognize that a Spanish word can have more than one shade of meaning, and accuses Shelton of not having had a good knowledge of Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. In his introduction to the Tudor Translations (1896) reprint of Shelton's translations, James Fitzmaurice-Kelly
James Fitzmaurice-Kelly
James Fitzmaurice-Kelly FBA was an English writer on Spanish literature.He was born in Glasgow to Colonel Thomas Kelly of the 40th Regiment of Foot and educated at St Charles's College, Kensington, where he learned Spanish from a fellow pupil and taught himself to read Don Quixote...
sees the performance otherwise: "Shelton's title to remembrance is based upon the broadest grounds. He had no sympathy for the arid accuracy that juggles with a gerund or toys with the crabbed subjunctive. From the subtleties of syntax, as from the bonds of prosody he sallies free; and the owls of pedantry have bitterly resented his arrogant disdain for them and theirs. And they have sought to avenge themselves, after their manner, by reproaching him with taking a disjunctive for an interjection, and with confounding of predicate and subject. They act after their kind. But Shelton's view of his function was ampler and nobler than the hidebound grammarian's. He appeals to the pure lover of literature; and as a man of letters he survives."
Both parts of Shelton's "Don Quixote" are available in Mr Fitzmaurice-Kelly's reprint for the Tudor Translations (1896), which itself was reprinted by AMS Press in 1967 (see References), and the First Part was also included in the famous Harvard Classics
Harvard Classics
The Harvard Classics, originally known as Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf, is a 51-volume anthology of classic works from world literature, compiled and edited by Harvard University president Charles W...
; the translation of the complete novel is reproduced in Macmillan's "Library of English Classics" with an introduction by A. W. Pollard, who incorporates the suggestions made by A. T. Wright in his Thomas Shelton, Translator.