Theses on Pure Language and Postliterate Translation: Walter Benjamin and the Experience of Existential Exile in Language and Translation

Gys-Walt Van Egdom

doi:10.5007/2175-7968.2018v38n1p157

Authors

Gys-Walt Van Egdom Zuyd University of Applied Sciences

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7968.2018v38n1p157

Abstract

It is the merit of Walter Benjamin to have spun a thread for what is now considered a desubjectivised theory of translation. In “Die Aufgabe des Übersetzers” (transl. “The Task of The Translator”), he advances the central thesis that all languages share one basic characteristic: slowly but steadily, they all move toward a point of convergence. To designate this point of convergence, Benjamin makes use of the elusive concept of “reine Sprache”. Benjamin’s tread will be taken up in this article, and it will be interwoven with what are coined “instances of postliteracy” as they are encountered in literature, only to form the tapestry that depicts not only the remembrance but also the ever-renewing promise of a purified language that constitutes the essence of a metaphysical exile in language.

Author Biography

Gys-Walt Van Egdom, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences

Gys-Walt van Egdom holds a doctor's degree in Linguistics and Literary Studies and a master's degree in Translation Studies. He is a lecturer and researcher at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences (Maastricht School of Translation and Interpreting) and is also affiliated to Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He is researcher at the Centre of Expertise Translation Didactics (Zuyd-ITV) and Centre of Expertise International Relationship Management (Zuyd) and a member of the Centre for Literature in Translation (VUB). His research interests include translation didactics, translation evaluation, translation ethics, and language philosophy.

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