Itamar Even-Zohar

Itamar Even-Zohar (Hebrew: איתמר אבן-זהר‎) (born 1939 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli culture researcher and professor at Tel Aviv University. Even-Zohar is a pioneer of polysystem theory and the theory of cultural repertoires.

Biography

Born in Tel Aviv (1939), Even-Zohar earned his degrees from the University of Tel Aviv (B.A., and PhD) and University of Jerusalem (M.A). He has also studied in Oslo, Copenhagen, and Stockholm. He has stayed, for shorter or longer periods, as a guest professor and/or scholar in European and American universities and research centers, such as Amsterdam, Paris, Philadelphia, Reykjavík, Quebec City, Louvain, Santiago de Compostela, Santander, St. John's (Newfoundland), Barcelona and Santa Cruz (California). He has a working knowledge of the following languages: Hebrew (mother tongue), Arabic, English, French, Swedish, Spanish, Norwegian, Danish, Italian, Russian, German, Icelandic, and other languages.

Thought and teaching

Structuralist research

Since the early 1970s Itamar Even-Zohar has been working on developing theoretical tools and research methodology for dealing with the complexity and interdependency of socio-cultural ‘systems,’ which he views as heterogeneous, versatile and dynamic networks. In 1972, he proposed a multi-layered structural theory of text (Even-Zohar 1972), but soon became one of the first critics of “Static Structuralism” (Even-Zohar 1978) and what he saw as a reification flaw imposed on the Structuralist agenda by a rigid and ‘sterile’ interpretation of Saussure’s notions of structure and ‘linguistic system’. In order for these notions to be widely and fruitfully applicable to all living, complex cultural activities, he believes one must take into account the interplay of the diachronic (historical) and synchronic (contemporary) dimensions of a socio-cultural system”. He therefore introduced the idea of “dynamic Structuralism,” with the concept of an ”open system of systems,” to capture the aspects of variability and heterogeneity in time and place (Even-Zohar 1979).

Using this new approach, he constructed a research program that dealt with literary systems rather than texts, which in the 1980s and early 1990s was considered a breakthrough in the realm of literary studies, and laid the ground for new schools in literary and translation studies (e.g., the Tel Aviv School, the Leuven School). This allowed researchers to break away from the normative notion of “literature” and “culture” as limited sets of highbrow products and explore a multi-layered interplay between “center” and “periphery”, and “canonized” and “non-canonized.” Even-Zohar’s studies of linguistic diglossia and cases of contacts and exchanges between adjacent literary systems.

Polysystem theory

Even-Zohar substitutes univalent causal parameters with polyvalent factors as an instrument for explaining the complexity of culture within a single community and between communities. His "polysystem theory" (Even-Zohar 1978, 1979, 1990, 1997, 2005 [electronic book]) analyzed sets of relations in literature and language, but gradually shifted towards a more complex analysis of socio-cultural systems. Even-Zohar’s polysystem theory has been embraced by students of literature and culture all over the world. The theory has proven particularly relevant in Spain and China. (Iglesias 1999; Chung Wai Literary Monthly, Vol. 30, No. 3, August 2001). Another advocate of this theory is American scholar Edwin Gentzler.

The concept of ‘Models’

Even-Zohar took the basic idea of ‘system’ a step further in proposing that the object of study was no longer texts and products but rather dynamic cultural models that determine the production of concrete cultural objects (Even-Zohar 1997). Developing his theories in cognitive science and anthropology, he maintained that it is the inter-personal models which people acquire and employ in their day to day conduct as members of a community that help to explain the dynamics of a certain culture. The theory of models is part of Even-Zohar’s larger Theory of Repertoire, both deeply inspired by Russian Formalism and the Soviet semiotics (Yuri Lotman, Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov, Toporov, Boris Uspensky, and others).

Translation studies

Even Zohar's analysis of norms in translation have shown that discrepancies between the source and the target texts can be explained as the result of actions governed by domestic norms. Even-Zohar’s innovative systemic approach has transformed Translation studies from a marginal philological specialty to a focus of inter-culture research. His article, “The Position of Translated Literature”, is widely quoted. His polysystem theory has opened many avenues to researchers in translation studies and allowed all kinds of questions to be asked which had previously seemed insignificant. (Susan Bassnett, 1993: 142). In Even-Zohar’s terms, a ‘polysystem’ is multidimensional and able to accommodate taxonomies established in the realm of literature (the division between high and low literature), translation (the division between translation and non translation) and social relationships (the division between dominant and dominated social groups). (Lianeri 2001).

Nation-building through culture

Even-Zohar has studied the role of literature in the construction of national cultures, where his comparative analyses of Hebrew, Italian, Norwegian, Galician, Catalan and Icelandic culture have inspired many PhD and MA dissertations. Even-Zohar has proposed that ‘culture’ as an object of study should no longer be restricted to products, but include models for cultural actions. Culture is thus perceived as a life-management program, not just a set of elite commodities (Even-Zohar 1997, 2005). Even-Zohar's innovative analysis of the emergence and crystallization of native Hebrew culture in Palestine has become one of the most cited contributions to the history of modern Hebrew culture and a model for paradigmatic analysis of other emerging cultures.

Since the 1990s, Even-Zohar's research has focused on deliberate culture planning in the development of new socio-political entities. He has examined problems of majority and minority, and center and periphery in the context of accessing and controlling resources. Since the end of the 18th century a growing number of communities around the globe have adopted the model of self-management, often bundled together with enterprises to create separate culture repertoires. Even-Zohar began with the building of Hebrew culture in Palestine between 1882 and 1948, and then moved on to other societies. Since 1993, he has been carrying out research in situ in Spanish Galicia, Catalonia, Iceland, Québec, and Newfoundland.

Published works

• Even-Zohar, Itamar 1972. "An Outline of a Theory of the Literary Text." Ha-Sifrut III (3/4): pp. 427–446. <In Hebrew>

• Even-Zohar, Itamar 1978. Papers in Historical Poetics. Tel Aviv: Porter Institute.

• Even-Zohar, Itamar 1979. "Polysystem Theory." Poetics Today 1(1-2, Autumn) pp. 287–310.

• Even-Zohar, Itamar 1990. Polysystem Studies. [= Poetics Today 11:1]. Durham: Duke University Press.

• Even-Zohar, Itamar 1997. "Factors and Dependencies in Culture: A Revised Draft for Polysystem Culture Research." Canadian Review of Comparative Literature / Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée XXIV(1, March), pp. 15–34.

• Even-Zohar, Itamar 2005. Papers in Culture Research.

Bibliography

• Aveling, Harry 2005. “Two Approaches to the Positioning of Translations: A Comparative Study of Itamar Even-Zohar's Polysystem Studies and Gideon Toury's Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond.” Kritika Kultura - A Refereed Electronic Journal of Literary/Cultural and Language Studies, No. 6, November 2005, pp. 6–25.

• Bassnett, Susan 1993. Comparative Literature: A Critical Introduction. Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.

• Bassnett, Susan 1997. “Moving Across Cultures: Translation as Intercultural Transfer”. In J.M. Santamaría, Eterio Pajares, Vickie Olsen, Raquel Merino and Federico Eguíluz, eds. Trasvases culturales: Literatura, cine, traducción 2. Vitoria-Gasteiz: Universidad del Pais Vasco, 1997. 7–20.

• Chang, Nam Fung 2006. “Itamar Even-Zohar’s Culture Theory and Translation Studies”. Paper presented to the 1st Athens International Conference on Translation and Interpretation: Translation: Between Art and Social Science. Athens, 13–14 October 2006

• DIMIĆ, Milan V. 1993. "Polysystem Theory", in Makaryk, I. ed. Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, pp. 151–155.

• Gallego Roca, Miguel. 1994. "La teoría del polisistema: Nuevo paradigma para los estudios literarios sobre la traducción". En idem, 1994. Traducción y literatura, pp 145–172. Madrid: Ediciones Jucar.

• Iglesias Santos, Montserrat. 1999. Teoría de los Polisistemas, Estudio introductorio, Compilación de textos y bibliografía por Montserrat Iglesias Santos. [Bibliotheca Philologica, Serie Lecturas] Madrid: Arco.

• Lambert, José 1997. "Itamar Even-Zohar's Polysystem Studies: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Culture Research." Canadian Review of Comparative Literature / Revue Canadienne de Littérature Comparée, XXIV, No. 1, pp. 7–14.

• Lianeri, Alexandra 2001. “On Defining Norms and Laws: A Western Discourse on Translation Production?” In Workshop Conference: Translations and Translation Theories East and West, Papers from Workshop 1: Basic Issues In The Intercultural Study Of Translation (University College London, 9–10 July 2001).

• Rodríguez García, José María 2004. “Literary into Cultural Translation.” Diacritics 34.3–4: 3-30.

• Shuttleworth, Mark 2001. “Polysystem Theory”. In Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, Mona Baker ed., Routledge: New York & London, pp. 176–179.

External links

• Itamar Even-Zohar's Site, including the complete texts of all his publications.