Translation, irritation and resonance
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Theo Hermans
Abstract
I seek to work from a textual approach to a view of translation as a social system. I start by positing a strong notion of equivalence and show that translations cannot be equivalent to their originals unless they are recognized as authenticated versions, at which point they have ceased to be translations. Because translations, unlike originals or equivalent authentic versions, are repeatable, they have a translator’s subject position inscribed in them. Reading translations for what they say about translation, i.e. for their translation-specific intertextuality, opens up an historical and social dimension, a social system in Niklas Luhmann’s sense. As a system, translation has its autonomy, in the form of operational closure, autopoiesis and self-reference, and its heteronomy, in that it caters for other systems and adapts to their topics and discursive forms as its other-reference. Its function is meta-representational, the production of representations of representations, and typically verbal re-enactments of pre-existing discourses. In that sense it contributes to society’s construction of reality.
Abstract
I seek to work from a textual approach to a view of translation as a social system. I start by positing a strong notion of equivalence and show that translations cannot be equivalent to their originals unless they are recognized as authenticated versions, at which point they have ceased to be translations. Because translations, unlike originals or equivalent authentic versions, are repeatable, they have a translator’s subject position inscribed in them. Reading translations for what they say about translation, i.e. for their translation-specific intertextuality, opens up an historical and social dimension, a social system in Niklas Luhmann’s sense. As a system, translation has its autonomy, in the form of operational closure, autopoiesis and self-reference, and its heteronomy, in that it caters for other systems and adapts to their topics and discursive forms as its other-reference. Its function is meta-representational, the production of representations of representations, and typically verbal re-enactments of pre-existing discourses. In that sense it contributes to society’s construction of reality.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction: The emergence of a sociology of translation 1
-
Part I. The debate on the translator's position in an emerging sociology of translation
- Priests, princes and pariahs: Constructing the professional field of translation 39
- Translation, irritation and resonance 57
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Part II. Bourdieu's influence in conceptualising a sociology of translation
- Objectivation, réflexivité et traduction: Pour une re-lecture bourdieusienne de la traduction 79
- Outline for a sociology of translation: Current issues and future prospects 93
- The location of the 'translation field': Negotiating borderlines between Pierre Bourdieu and Homi Bhabha 109
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Part III. Mapping the field: Issues of method and translation practice
- Locating systems and individuals in translation studies 123
- Translations 'in the making' 135
- Bridge concepts in translation sociology 171
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Part IV. Constructing a sociology of translation studies: Overview and perspectives
- Between sociology and history: Method in context and in practice 187
- Y a-t-il place pour une socio-traductologie? 205
- Notes on contributors 219
- Author index 223
- Subject index 225
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction: The emergence of a sociology of translation 1
-
Part I. The debate on the translator's position in an emerging sociology of translation
- Priests, princes and pariahs: Constructing the professional field of translation 39
- Translation, irritation and resonance 57
-
Part II. Bourdieu's influence in conceptualising a sociology of translation
- Objectivation, réflexivité et traduction: Pour une re-lecture bourdieusienne de la traduction 79
- Outline for a sociology of translation: Current issues and future prospects 93
- The location of the 'translation field': Negotiating borderlines between Pierre Bourdieu and Homi Bhabha 109
-
Part III. Mapping the field: Issues of method and translation practice
- Locating systems and individuals in translation studies 123
- Translations 'in the making' 135
- Bridge concepts in translation sociology 171
-
Part IV. Constructing a sociology of translation studies: Overview and perspectives
- Between sociology and history: Method in context and in practice 187
- Y a-t-il place pour une socio-traductologie? 205
- Notes on contributors 219
- Author index 223
- Subject index 225
