Translator Redactor: Literary Translation and the Limits of Interpretation

Literary translation is a separate field within translation studies demanding its own approaches. This argument is supported in Part I by an assessment of the "Hermeneutical approach" to Translation Studies, as represented in the thought of Jakobson, Benjamin, Derrida, Ricoeur, Jiri Levy, and George Steiner, which offers a strong foundation. Their thinking falls together in considering translation and interpretation to be full equivalents, entailing never-ending processes; in appreciating the holistic quality of the literary work of art and translation's relationship to it, as well as translation's role in the Nachleben of the work of literature; and in demanding creative language use and linguistic hospitality as part of the translator's labor. Part II of the thesis places the tasks of the literary translator as editor/redactor, particularly in consideration of the use of paratexts, on this foundation as one way of limiting hermeneutical activity. The translator redactor must act...Show moreLiterary translation is a separate field within translation studies demanding its own approaches. This argument is supported in Part I by an assessment of the "Hermeneutical approach" to Translation Studies, as represented in the thought of Jakobson, Benjamin, Derrida, Ricoeur, Jiri Levy, and George Steiner, which offers a strong foundation. Their thinking falls together in considering translation and interpretation to be full equivalents, entailing never-ending processes; in appreciating the holistic quality of the literary work of art and translation's relationship to it, as well as translation's role in the Nachleben of the work of literature; and in demanding creative language use and linguistic hospitality as part of the translator's labor. Part II of the thesis places the tasks of the literary translator as editor/redactor, particularly in consideration of the use of paratexts, on this foundation as one way of limiting hermeneutical activity. The translator redactor must act as a book compiler, a scholar-annotator, and an analyst commentator, or at least consider these roles. In this way, the thesis unites theory and practice while promoting the positive utility of hermeneutics for translation and yet setting limits for the translator's interventions, particularly in helping the reader's own process of interpretation by providing paratextual guides and aids.Show less

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Translator Redactor: Literary Translation and the Limits of Interpretation