On Translatability and Intranslatability in Walter Benjamin

Authors

  • Burghard Baltrusch Universidade de Vigo. Vigo, Galiza, Espanha

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7968.2018v38n2p32

Abstract

The Vocabulaire européen des philosophies. Dictionnaire des intraduisibles defines intranslatability as “what one does not cease to (not) translate”. A paradigmatic example of a text continuously translated since the second half of the twentieth century, is the foundational essay of modern translation theory, “The translator’s task” by Walter Benjamin. Starting with a brief overview of 27 Ibero-Romance, Italian, English and French translations since 1962, with special emphasis on the Brazilian case, this paper will offer a reflection on the issues of translatability and intranslatability in Walter Benjamin. Some of “The tranlator’s Task”’s more complex passages will be analyzed to illustrate how Benjamin’s theory attempts to reframe the idea of the original through the notion of translation as a “continuum of transformations.” It will be argued that the concept of “pure language” can be understood as a strategic essentialism, a discursive tool for negotiating between the translatable and the untranslatable.

Author Biography

Burghard Baltrusch, Universidade de Vigo. Vigo, Galiza, Espanha

Burghard Baltrusch é professor de Literaturas Lusófonas na Universidade de Vigo, investigador do grupo GAELT da mesma universidade e do Instituto de Literatura Comparada Margarida da Universidade do Porto. É presidente da I Cátedra Internacional José Saramago e desenvolve pesquisas sobre as obras de Fernando Pessoa e José Saramago, a poesia actual e a teoria da tradução. Coordena actualmente o projecto “Poesía actual y política” (POEPOLIT, FFI2016-77584-P, financiado pelo Ministério de Economia e Competitividade da Espanha) e é coordenador do Programa de Doutoramento Interuniversitário em Estudos Literários (Vigo/A Coruña). Foi presidente da Asociación Internacional de Estudos Galegos e organizou vários congressos internacionais. Publicou ou editou os livros Bewußtsein und Erzählungen der Moderne im Werk Fernando Pessoas (Peter Lang, 1997), Kritisches Lexikon der Romanischen Gegenwartsliteraturen (5 vols., coed. com W.-D. Lange et al., G. Narr-Verlag, 1999), Soldando Sal. Galician Studies in Translation and Paratranslation (coed. com G. Pérez, Peter Lang 2010), Non-Lyric Discourses in Contemporary Poetry (coed. com I. Lourido, Peter Lang, 2012), Lupe Gómez: libre e estranxeira - Estudos e traducións (Frank & Timme, 2013), “O que transformou o mundo é a necessidade e não a utopia” - Estudos sobre utopia e ficção em José Saramago (Frank & Timme, 2014). https://uvigo.academia.edu/BurghardBaltrusch

References

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Published

2018-05-11

How to Cite

Baltrusch, B. (2018). On Translatability and Intranslatability in Walter Benjamin. Cadernos De Tradução, 38(2), 32–60. https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7968.2018v38n2p32

Issue

Vol. 38 No. 2 (2018): Edição Regular

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