Transfiction
Research into the realities of translation fiction
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
Published online on 9 January 2014
Published online on 9 January 2014
© John Benjamins
Table of Contents
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Going fictional! Translators and interpreters in literature and film: An introductionKlaus Kaindl | pp. 1–26
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A Hitchhiker’s Guide to …: What to expect and where to start fromKarlheinz Spitzl | pp. 27–34
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Episode I. Entering theoretical territories
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The power of fiction as theory: Some exemplary lessons on translation from Borges’s storiesRosemary Arrojo | pp. 37–50
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Language, essence, and silence: Fictional Translators in Peter Kosminsky’s The PromiseSalam Al-Mahadin | pp. 51–68
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Walter Benjamin revisited: A literary reading in Todd Hasak-Lowy’s short story “The Task of this Translator”Fotini Apostolou | pp. 69–86
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Of dragons and translators: Foreignness as a principle of life: Yoko Tawada’s “St. George and the Translator”Klaus Kaindl | pp. 87–102
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Taking care of the stars: Interpreted interaction in Amadou Hampâté Bâ’s L’étrange destin de WangrinKarlheinz Spitzl | pp. 103–112
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Reaching a dead-end – and then? Jacques Gélats Le Traducteur and Le Traducteur AmoureuxNitsa Ben-Ari | pp. 113–124
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Episode II. Travelling through sociocultural space
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From La dolce vita to La vita agra: The image of the Italian literary translator as an illusory, rebellious and precarious intellectualGiovanni Nadiani | pp. 127–140
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From a faltering bystander to a spiritual leader: Re-thinking the role of translators in RussiaNatalia Olshanskaya | pp. 141–156
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Interpreting Daniel Stein: Or what happens when fictional translators get translatedBrian James Baer | pp. 157–176
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Fictional translators in Québec novelsPatricia Godbout | pp. 177–188
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Pseudotranslations in 18th century FranceSigrid Kupsch-Losereit | pp. 189–202
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Episode III. Experiencing agency and action
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On the (in)fidelity of (fictional) interpretersIngrid Kurz | pp. 205–220
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Interpreting conflict: Memories of an interpreterMarija Todorova | pp. 221–232
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Truth in translation: Interpreters’ subjectivity in the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings in South AfricaAlice Leal | pp. 233–246
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Wittnessing, remembering, translating: Translation and translator figures in Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything is Illuminated and Anne Michael’s Fugitive PiecesSabine Strümper-Krobb | pp. 247–260
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Translating the past, negotiating the self: Discursive resistance in Elisabeth Reichart’s Komm über den SeeRenate Resch | pp. 261–270
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The apocalyptical interpreter and the end of Europe: Alain Fleischer’s ProlongationsDörte Andres | pp. 271–284
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Episode IV. Carrying function into effect
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Willa Muir: The “factional translator”. How Muir self-fictionalized her translations of Kafka’s workMichelle Woods | pp. 287–298
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Translation as a source of humor: Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything is Illuminated/Alles ist erleuchtetWaltraud Kolb | pp. 299–314
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Neither is a translator, unless they’re transauthers: Confusion and (re-)gendering in feminist fiction/translationDaniela Beuren | pp. 315–328
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Magical mediation: Translation/interpreting and gender in the narrative world of Harry PotterAlice Casarini | pp. 329–344
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Future imperfect: Translation and translators in science-fiction novelsMonika Wozniak | pp. 345–362
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Fiction as a catalyst: Some afterthoughtsKarlheinz Spitzl | pp. 363–368
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Name index | pp. 369–370
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Subject index | pp. 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 (33)
Cited by 33 other publications
Kotze, Haidee
Özcan, Lale & Cazibe Yiğit
İZCİ, Hilal & Selin ERKUL YAĞCI
Strümper-Krobb, Sabine
Valdeón, Roberto A.
2022. The voice(s) of Julio Gómez de la Serna in Oscar Wilde’s Obras completas
. Translation and Interpreting Studies 17:2 ► pp. 220 ff. 
ARI, Sevinç
Ben-Ari, Nitsa
2021. The Translator’s Note revisited. In Literary Translator Studies [Benjamins Translation Library, 156], ► pp. 157 ff. 
Chesterman, Andrew
2021. Translator studies. In Handbook of Translation Studies [Handbook of Translation Studies, 5], ► pp. 241 ff. 
Kim, Hyongrae
Pause, Johannes
Ruiz Rosendo, Lucía
Woodsworth, Judith
2021. Dressing up for Halloween. In Literary Translator Studies [Benjamins Translation Library, 156], ► pp. 293 ff. 
Hoyte-West, Antony
Hoyte-West, Antony
Baldo, Michela
Hansen, Julie
Hansen, Julie
Ivashkiv, Roman
Kaindl, Klaus
2018. Fictional representations. In A History of Modern Translation Knowledge [Benjamins Translation Library, 142], ► pp. 51 ff. 
Kaindl, Klaus
2018. The remaking of the translator’s reality. In The Fictions of Translation [Benjamins Translation Library, 139], ► pp. 157 ff. 
Mével, Pierre-Alexis & Dawn M. Cornelio
Pérez-Carbonell, Marta
Woodsworth, Judith & Gillian Lane-Mercier
2018. Introduction. In The Fictions of Translation [Benjamins Translation Library, 139], ► pp. 1 ff. 
Kripper, Denise
Spitzer, D. M.
Tryuk, Małgorzata
Wilson, Rita
[no author supplied]
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Subjects
Literature & Literary Studies
Main BIC Subject
CFP: Translation & interpretation
Main BISAC Subject
LAN023000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Translating & Interpreting