Transfiction

Research into the realities of translation fiction

Editors

Klaus Kaindl

| University of Vienna

Karlheinz Spitzl

| University of Vienna

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027258502 | EUR 99.00 | USD 149.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027270733 | EUR 99.00 | USD 149.00

This volume on Transfiction (understood as an aestheticized imagination of translatorial action) recognizes the power of fiction as a vital and pulsating academic resource, and in doing so helps expand the breadth and depth of TS. The book covers a selection of peer-reviewed papers from the 1st International Conference on Fictional Translators and Interpreters in Literature and Film (held at the University of Vienna, Austria in 2011) and links literary and cinematic works of translation fiction to state-of-the-art translation theory and practice. It presents not just a mixed bag of cutting-edge views and perspectives, but great care has been taken to turn it into a well-rounded transficcionario with a fluid dialogue among its 22 chapters. Its investigation of translatorial action in the mirror of fiction (i.e. beyond the cognitive barrier of ‘fact’) and its multiple transdisciplinary trajectories make for thought-provoking readings in TS, comparative literature, as well as foreign language and literature courses.

[Benjamins Translation Library, 110] 2014. ix, 373 pp.

Publishing status: Available

https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.110

Table of Contents

Going fictional! Translators and interpreters in literature and film: An introduction Klaus Kaindl	1–26
A Hitchhiker’s Guide to …: What to expect and where to start from Karlheinz Spitzl	27–34
Episode I. Entering theoretical territories
The power of fiction as theory: Some exemplary lessons on translation from Borges’s stories Rosemary Arrojo	37–50
Language, essence, and silence: Fictional Translators in Peter Kosminsky’s The Promise Salam Al-Mahadin	51–68
Walter Benjamin revisited: A literary reading in Todd Hasak-Lowy’s short story “The Task of this Translator” Fotini Apostolou	69–86
Of dragons and translators: Foreignness as a principle of life: Yoko Tawada’s “St. George and the Translator” Klaus Kaindl	87–102
Taking care of the stars: Interpreted interaction in Amadou Hampâté Bâ’s L’étrange destin de Wangrin Karlheinz Spitzl	103–112
Reaching a dead-end – and then?: Jacques Gélats Le Traducteur and Le Traducteur Amoureux Nitsa Ben-Ari	113–124
Episode II. Travelling through sociocultural space
From La dolce vita to La vita agra : The image of the Italian literary translator as an illusory, rebellious and precarious intellectual Giovanni Nadiani	127–140
From a faltering bystander to a spiritual leader: Re-thinking the role of translators in Russia Natalia Olshanskaya	141–156
Interpreting Daniel Stein : Or what happens when fictional translators get translated Brian James Baer	157–176
Fictional translators in Québec novels Patricia Godbout	177–188
Pseudotranslations in 18th century France Sigrid Kupsch-Losereit	189–202
Episode III. Experiencing agency and action
On the (in)fidelity of (fictional) interpreters Ingrid Kurz	205–220
Interpreting conflict: Memories of an interpreter Marija Todorova	221–232
Truth in translation: Interpreters’ subjectivity in the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings in South Africa Alice Leal	233–246
Wittnessing, remembering, translating: Translation and translator figures in Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything is Illuminated and Anne Michael’s Fugitive Pieces Sabine Strümper-Krobb	247–260
Translating the past, negotiating the self: Discursive resistance in Elisabeth Reichart’s Komm über den See Renate Resch	261–270
The apocalyptical interpreter and the end of Europe: Alain Fleischer’s Prolongations Dörte Andres	271–284
Episode IV. Carrying function into effect
Willa Muir: The “factional translator”. How Muir self-fictionalized her translations of Kafka’s work Michelle Woods	287–298
Translation as a source of humor: Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything is Illuminated/Alles ist erleuchtet Waltraud Kolb	299–314
Neither is a translator, unless they’re transauthers: Confusion and (re-)gendering in feminist fiction/translation Daniela Beuren	315–328
Magical mediation: Translation/interpreting and gender in the narrative world of Harry Potter Alice Casarini	329–344
Future imperfect: Translation and translators in science-fiction novels Monika Wozniak	345–362
Fiction as a catalyst: Some afterthoughts Karlheinz Spitzl	363–368
Name index	369–370
Subject index	371–373

“Because of the coherence of its chapters, which do indeed take the reader on a journey, and for the fascinating picture of translation—in fiction and in practice—that emerges from its pages, this volume is a remarkable contribution to contemporary translation studies and succeeds in opening a new area of study where fiction and translation intersect.”

Christine York, Concordia University, in Linguistica Antverpiensa Vol. 14 (2015)

“ Transfiction is edited with a passion and close understanding of the issues involved, as well as the possibilities beyond; it will not be the final word in a growing field of study, but we may already count it among the key publications on the manifold ways in which, as Patricia Godbout puts it somewhere in the second ‘episode’ of this volume, the reader’s attention now shifts ‘from the translator as character to translation itself as a fictional motif’ (p. 186). It is a fine recent addition to John Benjamins' ever-reliable Translation Library (BTL), and one that should be consulted by Translation Studies scholars, by translators of literature and, not least, by creative writers: the book is a host of novel ideas (pun intended).”

Paschalis Nikolaou, in The Creative Literary Studio, 17 August 2016

“The editors of Transfiction are to be commended for providing a vehicle for critical observations on the works of such canonical writers as Cervantes, Borges, Voltaire, Conan Doyle, and Kafka, as well as on the fiction produced by professional translators and interpreters who reflect on the problems, limitations, and possibilities of their craft. This fine anthology deals with a phenomenon in literature and film that has important implications for Translation Studies.”

Corrado Federici, Brock University, in TTR – Traduction, terminologie et rédaction Vol. 26.2, 2013

“This volume appears to exhaust all possible inroads into research on transfiction; its varied and comprehensive array of papers makes it a true contribution to this field, and it will no doubt be recognised as a key text well into the future.”

Leah Gerber, Monash University, in Translation Studies 11:1 (2017)

Cited by

Cited by other publications

No author info given

2015. Books Received. Translation and Literature 24:3 ► pp. 405 ff.

No author info given

2020. In Translation and Affect [Benjamins Translation Library, 152],

Baldo, Michela

2019. In Italian-Canadian Narratives of Return, ► pp. 1 ff.

Ben-Ari, Nitsa

2021. In Literary Translator Studies [Benjamins Translation Library, 156],

Hansen, Julie

2018. Introduction: Translingualism and transculturality in Russian contexts of translation. Translation Studies 11:2 ► pp. 113 ff.

Ivashkiv, Roman

2018. Transmesis in Viktor Pelevin’sGeneration “P”and Andrew Bromfield’s English translation. Translation Studies 11:2 ► pp. 201 ff.

Kaindl, Klaus

2018. In A History of Modern Translation Knowledge [Benjamins Translation Library, 142], ► pp. 51 ff.

Kaindl, Klaus

2018. In The Fictions of Translation [Benjamins Translation Library, 139], ► pp. 157 ff.

Kripper, Denise

2017. Los agentes de la traducción: las ficciones del traductor como relatos de mercado. Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción 10:2 ► pp. 174 ff.

Mével, Pierre-Alexis & Dawn M. Cornelio

2018. Collision and Collusion: Contrasting Representations of the Translator-Author Relationship in Two Contemporary Francophone Novels. TTR 29:1 ► pp. 139 ff.

Pérez-Carbonell, Marta

2018. Who said what? Translated messages and language interpreters in three texts by Javier Marías and Almudena Grandes. Perspectives 26:4 ► pp. 612 ff.

Spitzer, D. M.

2017. Past the Fire’s Edge: Figures of Translation from Herodotos 1.86. Translation Review 99:1 ► pp. 15 ff.

Wilson, Rita

2017. In Reconstructing Identity, ► pp. 157 ff.

Wilson, Rita

2017. In Self-Translation and Power, ► pp. 241 ff.

Woodsworth, Judith

2021. In Literary Translator Studies [Benjamins Translation Library, 156],

Woodsworth, Judith & Gillian Lane-Mercier

2018. In The Fictions of Translation [Benjamins Translation Library, 139], ► pp. 1 ff.

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 14 january 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Subjects

Literature & Literary Studies

Theoretical literature & literary studies

Translation & Interpreting Studies

Interpreting

Translation Studies

BIC Subject: CFP – Translation & interpretation

BISAC Subject: LAN023000 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Translating & Interpreting

U.S. Library of Congress Control Number: 2013042483 | Marc record