Natural effusions: Mrs J. Howorth’s English translation of Albrecht von Haller’s Die Alpen

Martin, A. E. (2012) Natural effusions: Mrs J. Howorth’s English translation of Albrecht von Haller’s Die Alpen. Translation Studies, 5 (1). pp. 17-32. ISSN 1751-2921 doi: 10.1080/14781700.2012.628810

Abstract/Summary

Albrecht von Haller's Die Alpen [The Alps] was an immensely popular piece of early eighteenth-century poetry, yet it took more than half a century to be translated into English. In this article I examine Mrs J. Howorth's prose rendering of it in her translated collection The Poems of Baron Haller (1794) and analyse how the translation itself reflects late-eighteenth-century scientific, political and aesthetic concerns, notably through the influence of Linnaeus and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Secondly, I explore how Howorth constructed a public image of herself as a female consumer and producer of botanical literature, and argue that her translation constitutes an early example of British women's increasing engagement in science through the activity of translation.