Notizie dalla Chesterton Collection di Londra.

"Every literature from another age or country...carried with it an atmosphere which is beyond the mere translation of words, as they are translated in a traveller's phrase-book." Gilbert K. Chesterton, St. Thomas Aquinas Welcome Dear Friends of the Chesterton Collection, We thank you for your continued support of the G.K. Chesterton Collection and the University of Notre Dame (USA) in England. Our work cataloging the library materials in the Collection continues, with over 1300 works now searchable in our online catalog. We welcome all who are interested in the Collection—if you would like to arrange a visit please contact chesterton@nd.edu to make an appointment. We hope you have a wonderful Christmas season, full of joy and abundantly blessed. With best holiday wishes, Notre Dame London Thesis researched at Notre Dame London is donated to the Collection Martin Kelly has donated a copy of his MA thesis G.K. Chesterton's commitment to Distributism: how realistic was it and is it? to Notre Dame London. This is the first work that has been completed by an external researcher using the G.K. Chesterton Collection at Notre Dame London as a resource. Martin's thesis will now live as a part of the Collection for future researchers to read and benefit from. The dissertation explores Chesterton's economic theory of Distributism and questions how realistic the theory is in modern society. Martin concludes that Distributism is "alive and well in other guises, such as the Cooperative Movement, Friendly Societies and hugely successful enterprises such as the Mondragon Corporation and the Scott-Bader Commonwealth." Martin says of the inspiration for his thesis, "I was first attracted to G.K.Chesterton by his wit. It was a revelation to me that he had also written on economics and that the model he and his friend Hilaire Belloc had come up with, Distributism, avoided both the pitfalls inherent in unbridled capitalism and in dead-hand socialism. Not only that, it was entirely consistent with, if not based upon, Catholic Social Teaching, the subject of my degree." Exploring the Collection was essential to Martin's research: "Searching original documents at the G.K. Chesterton Collection enabled me to catch the excitement of those who...dreamed of putting Distributism into practice." Martin believes his research is applicable to contemporary economic study as well as past theory. He writes that "Chesterton’s Distributism has much to teach politicians and others now about how to run an economy that puts humans at the centre. As Pope Francis reminds us, 'Money must serve, not rule.'" Martin would like to extend his thanks "to Notre Dame and to Alice Tyrell, keeper of the Chesterton Collection, in particular, for all their help." Text has been revised for clarity. Martin's thesis was advised by Rev. Dr. Ashley Beck at St. Mary's University, Twickenham. A Closer Look Spanish Language Translations Hadas Elber-Aviram's London Seminar class "On The Border Of Fairyland: Chesterton & London" made use of the Collection from a new angle this semester. As well as exploring the way that using physical copies of a text might inform literary research, the group took advantage of having a high proportion of native Spanish speakers to focus on the Spanish Language translations in the Collection. The volumes studied were published in Spain and South America between the mid-20th century and 2015, and are aimed at a wide range of markets. Hadas shared her reflections on the experience of exploring these texts with bilingual students: "Our work with Chesterton's translations highlighted the extent to which Chesterton's fictions are living texts that speak to us across linguistic, national, and cultural borders. It shined a spotlight on the ways in which translations have recontextualised, reframed, and reimagined Chesterton's stories, particularly within different cultures around crime fiction." Students' familiarity with the literary cultures of their home cities allowed for a fascinating discussion on the way language and storytelling changed in any given translation, depending on the country in which it originated. "We also explored the subtle changes of emphasis enabled by Spanish denotations and connotations," says Hadas. "Our student Silvana Mejia Aristizabal ('26) discovered that the translation of The Invisible Man lifted up the religious themes of the story by translating the English phrase 'carry large bags' into the Spanish idiom 'lleva a cuestas' that connotes the spiritual weight of sin as well as the physical weight of a dead body. She thereby unlocked new meaning in the Spanish translation through her sensitive cross-linguistic reading of Chesterton. "There is still much more work to be done on the translations," she continues, "and many more discoveries to be made. I look forward very much to the next cohort of Chesterton students bringing their rich linguistic fluencies to bear on them!" Call Out for Translators Translating the Collection As our cataloguing project continues apace, correctly recording the translations of Chesterton's works in languages with non-Latin alphabets are proving particularly challenging. If you read Hebrew, Japanese, or Russian and would be interested in helping us understand what we have, either in person or via photographs, please contact Anna Molan on amolan@nd.edu.