Derridian différance. Is a Spelling Mistake Translatable?

The article examines Polish translations of the Derridian term différance. Polish philosophical discourse uses the following renditions of différance: róż(ni(c)oś)ć by Bogdan Banasiak, różNICa by Tadeusz Sławek, gra-na-zwłokę-o-różnicę by Stanisław Cichowicz and the most popular: różnia by Joanna Skoczylas. Should a mistake be deliberately committed in Polish, as it was done in the original? Or should it be corrected, and if so – how to explain the correction? The suggestion to translate the controversial concept by means of a Polish neologism, the neographism rórznica, may be productive and such a solution may be open to a number of interpretations. Thank to its ambivalence, rórznica introduces a majority of Derridian motifs and may generate new ideas and concepts. Moreover, it allows a successful critique of logocentrism and phonocentrism of Western philosophy and a subversion of binary oppositions, hard subject and desire of self-presence. Finally, the misspelled différance may be viewed as an example of grammatical Otherness.

Derridian différance. Is a Spelling Mistake Translatable?

The article examines Polish translations of the Derridian term différance. Polish philosophical discourse uses the following renditions of différance: róż(ni(c)oś)ć by Bogdan Banasiak, różNICa by Tadeusz Sławek, gra-na-zwłokę-o-różnicę by Stanisław Cichowicz and the most popular: różnia by Joanna Skoczylas. Should a mistake be deliberately committed in Polish, as it was done in the original? Or should it be corrected, and if so – how to explain the correction? The suggestion to translate the controversial concept by means of a Polish neologism, the neographism rórznica, may be productive and such a solution may be open to a number of interpretations. Thank to its ambivalence, rórznica introduces a majority of Derridian motifs and may generate new ideas and concepts. Moreover, it allows a successful critique of logocentrism and phonocentrism of Western philosophy and a subversion of binary oppositions, hard subject and desire of self-presence. Finally, the misspelled différance may be viewed as an example of grammatical Otherness.