Brodski i Benjamin – poszukiwanie prawdziwego znaczenia przekładu

Zakhar Ishov

Titles

Abstract

The article seeks the meeting ground between Walter Benjamin’s essay The task of the translator and Joseph Brodsky’s practice of self-translation into English.

Benjamin’s 1923 essay, written initially as a translator’s justification of the methods used in a concrete translation, has become a seminal text in translation theory. It raises questions about the role of form in poetic translation, suggests a new theory of translation as being the afterlife of the original, and indicates differences between translation and original composition as a mode of writing.

Brodsky’s experience of translation was distinct. He came to America as an exile and his reputation in his adoptive country depended on his English translations. Brodsky insisted on preserving the metrical structure of his originals and set out to correct the translations done by English native speakers. He became involved in translating his poems into English, because he believed in the principles of the Russian school of formal equimetrical translation. Benjamin had criticized the validity of these traditional translating principles in his essay, contending that reproducing the form of the original requires one to neglect its meaning. Yet, I point to several surprising parallels between Brodsky and Benjamin on the theoretical level.

Most importantly, Brodsky’s practice of self-translation into English seems to realize one of the crucial theoretical tenets put forth by Benjamin: the translator should foreignise his translation, i.e. transplant the elements of the original into the target language, thus expanding the boundaries of that language. Brodsky did not intentionally set out to foreignise his translations. The foreignisation came about because Brodsky actively tried to preserve those elements that he felt reflected his uncommon poetic voice. Thus, despite the disparity in time periods and theoretical standpoints, Brodsky’s translating practices could be said to fulfil the translator’s task as it was understood and formulated by Benjamin.

The article seeks the meeting ground between Walter Benjamin’s essay The task of the translator and Joseph Brodsky’s practice of self-translation into English.

Benjamin’s 1923 essay, written initially as a translator’s justification of the methods used in a concrete translation, has become a seminal text in translation theory. It raises questions about the role of form in poetic translation, suggests a new theory of translation as being the afterlife of the original, and indicates differences between translation and original composition as a mode of writing.

Brodsky’s experience of translation was distinct. He came to America as an exile and his reputation in his adoptive country depended on his English translations. Brodsky insisted on preserving the metrical structure of his originals and set out to correct the translations done by English native speakers. He became involved in translating his poems into English, because he believed in the principles of the Russian school of formal equimetrical translation. Benjamin had criticized the validity of these traditional translating principles in his essay, contending that reproducing the form of the original requires one to neglect its meaning. Yet, I point to several surprising parallels between Brodsky and Benjamin on the theoretical level.

Most importantly, Brodsky’s practice of self-translation into English seems to realize one of the crucial theoretical tenets put forth by Benjamin: the translator should foreignise his translation, i.e. transplant the elements of the original into the target language, thus expanding the boundaries of that language. Brodsky did not intentionally set out to foreignise his translations. The foreignisation came about because Brodsky actively tried to preserve those elements that he felt reflected his uncommon poetic voice. Thus, despite the disparity in time periods and theoretical standpoints, Brodsky’s translating practices could be said to fulfil the translator’s task as it was understood and formulated by Benjamin.

Keywords

przekład poezji, Josif Brodski, Walter Benjamin, forma w poezji, teoria przekładu

poetry translation, Joseph Brodsky, Walter Benjamin, form in poetry, translation theory

References

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Information

Information: Przekładaniec, 2015, Issue 30 – Brodski, pp. 9 - 32

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/16891864PC.15.001.4439

Article type: Original article

Titles:

Polish:

Brodski i Benjamin – poszukiwanie prawdziwego znaczenia przekładu

English:

Brodsky and Benjamin: Search for the True Meaning of Translation

Authors

Zakhar Ishov

Yale University

Published at: 28.09.2015

Article status: Open

Licence: None

Percentage share of authors:

Zakhar Ishov (Author) - 100%

Weronika Szwebs (Translator) - 0%

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Polish

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