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The Translator's Turn
"Robinson's book is original and stimulating, and I suspect it will remain a provocative landmark in its field for some time to come." -- Steven Rendall, Philosophy and Literature
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 9, 2017
This book is a beautiful, compelling, and fascinating articulation of a very thoughtful and complex understanding of what translation could be, and what translation should consider itself to be given the incredible control and power words have over our identities as individuals, communities, and nations.
Robinson's account of how translation is considered in the mainstream is informed by a very keen and well-developed critique of dualism, instrumentality, and perfection - all guiding principles that he riffs off of to craft his own rhetoric of translation. His theory is as radical as it is powerful, making a very persuasive case that we don't just work with words, we are words, and our feelings about meaning are equally valid if not the major source of validity in any meaning we construct. He uses Burke's four master tropes and the six tropes of Bloom in order to show a number of different "attitudes" and approaches one could take toward translation. The politics and results of each are fascinating, and the book kept me thinking about the ways that translators are compositionists, artists, and creators.
The ethics section, which was based off of Burke's read of Augustine's fascination with "Ver" root words, was a little tedious at times. Robinson used this metaphor (?) to construct a number of different ethical approaches translators could take toward their work. It was interesting, but there is a lot more in the first two sections of the book - the three levels of awareness of the translator, and the master tropes of translation were really great concepts.
A very worthwhile read even if you are not a translator - I'm not! But I got a lot of worthwhile thought out of this great book .
Robinson's account of how translation is considered in the mainstream is informed by a very keen and well-developed critique of dualism, instrumentality, and perfection - all guiding principles that he riffs off of to craft his own rhetoric of translation. His theory is as radical as it is powerful, making a very persuasive case that we don't just work with words, we are words, and our feelings about meaning are equally valid if not the major source of validity in any meaning we construct. He uses Burke's four master tropes and the six tropes of Bloom in order to show a number of different "attitudes" and approaches one could take toward translation. The politics and results of each are fascinating, and the book kept me thinking about the ways that translators are compositionists, artists, and creators.
The ethics section, which was based off of Burke's read of Augustine's fascination with "Ver" root words, was a little tedious at times. Robinson used this metaphor (?) to construct a number of different ethical approaches translators could take toward their work. It was interesting, but there is a lot more in the first two sections of the book - the three levels of awareness of the translator, and the master tropes of translation were really great concepts.
A very worthwhile read even if you are not a translator - I'm not! But I got a lot of worthwhile thought out of this great book .
December 2, 2012
Enjoyed this immensely, read for a Russian Translation course in grad school
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews