Untranslatability and the challenge of world literature : a South African example
- What are called 'natural languages' are artificial, often politically instituted and regulated, phenomena; a more accurate picture of speech practices around the globe is of a multidimensional continuum. This essay asks what the implications of this understanding of language are for translation, and focuses on the variety of Afrikaans known as Kaaps, which has traditionally been treated as a dialect rather than a language in its own right. An analysis of a poem in Kaaps by Nathan Trantraal reveals the challenges such a use of language constitutes for translation. A revised understanding of translation is proposed, relying less on the notion of transfer of meaning from one language to another and more on an active engagement with the experience of the reader.
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| Author: | Derek Attridge |
|---|---|
| URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-609397 |
| URL: | https://press.ici-berlin.org/doi/10.37050/ci-19/attridge_untranslatability.pdf |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-19_02 |
| ISBN: | 978-3-96558-013-8 |
| ISBN: | 978-3-96558-022-0 |
| ISSN: | 2627-731X |
| Parent Title (English): | The work of world literature / ed. by Francesco Giusti and Benjamin Lewis Robinson ; Cultural Inquiry ; Vol. 19 |
| Publisher: | ICI Press |
| Place of publication: | Berlin |
| Document Type: | Part of a Book |
| Language: | English |
| Date of Publication (online): | 2021/05/04 |
| Year of first Publication: | 2021 |
| Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
| Release Date: | 2021/06/10 |
| Tag: | Language; Translation; Untranslatability; Worldliterature Kaaps; Trantraal, Nathan |
| GND Keyword: | Sprache; Mundart; Afrikaans; Mundart Afrikaans <Kapstadt, Region>; Übersetzung; Weltliteratur |
| Page Number: | 31 |
| First Page: | 26 |
| Last Page: | 55 |
| HeBIS-PPN: | 481513310 |
| Dewey Decimal Classification: | 4 Sprache / 40 Sprache / 400 Sprache |
| 4 Sprache / 43 Deutsch, germanische Sprachen allgemein / 439 Andere germanische Sprachen | |
| 8 Literatur / 80 Literatur, Rhetorik, Literaturwissenschaft / 800 Literatur und Rhetorik | |
| 8 Literatur / 83 Deutsche und verwandte Literaturen / 839 Andere germanische Literaturen | |
| Sammlungen: | CompaRe | Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft |
| CompaRe | Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft / ICI Berlin | |
| BDSL-Klassifikation: | 03.00.00 Literaturwissenschaft / BDSL-Klassifikation: 03.00.00 Literaturwissenschaft > 03.11.00 Übersetzung |
| Licence (German): |  Creative Commons - Namensnennung-Weitergabe unter gleichen Bedingungen 4.0 |
