Cover not available
Article published In:
Translation Spaces
Vol. 10:2 (2021) ► pp.329–348

Maze-walkers and echoborgs

Reflections on translator metaphors

ORCID logo | York University
The article fills a gap in the existing array of translation metaphors by introducing maze-walkers as a metaphor for translators at work. Ten similarities and five dissimilarities between translating and walking through a hedge maze are discussed. Translators’ control over their actions is compared to that of maze-walkers and of four other metaphorical agents: stage and musical performers, puppeteers, echoborgs and ghost-writers. Most existing metaphors convey attitudes toward translations and translators, whereas the maze-walking metaphor captures the varied actions of a translating translator. The metaphor may be of value to anyone explaining translation to students.
Keywords: mazes, metaphors, choice, voice, pedagogy
Article outline
  • 1.Types and functions of metaphors
  • 2.Types of maze
  • 3.How are maze-walkers like translating translators?
  • 4.How does maze-walking differ from translating?
  • 5.Four voice control metaphors
  • 6.Metaphors versus subclasses
  • 7.Product, process or agent?
  • 8.The subjective experience of maze-walking
  • 9.Further work
  • 10.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 2 September 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ts.21001.mos
References (24)
References
Baudrillard, Jean. [1981] 1994. Simulacra and Simulation. Translated by Sheila Glaser. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Benshalom, Yotam. 2010. “Performing Translation.” In Thinking Through Translation with Metaphors, edited by James St. André, 47–74. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Borges, Jorge. [1941] 1962. “The Garden of Forking Paths.” Translated by Anthony Boucher. In Ficciones. New York: Grove.Google Scholar
Boyd, Richard. 1979. “Metaphor and Theory Change: What is ‘Metaphor’ a Metaphor for?” In Metaphor and Thought, edited by Andrew Ortony, 356–408. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Chesterman, Andrew. 2009. “The Name and Nature of Translator Studies.” Hermes: Journal of Language and Communication Studies 421, 13–22.Google Scholar
Corti, Kevin and Alex Gillespie. 2015. “A Truly Human Interface: Interacting Face-to-face with Someone Whose Words are Determined by a Computer Program.” Frontiers in Psychology 61, 1–18. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dastyar, Vorya. 2017. Dictionary of Metaphors in Translation and Interpreting Studies. Tehran: Rahnama Press.Google Scholar
Fisher, Adrian and George Gerster. [1990] 2000. The Art of the Maze. London: Seven Dials.Google Scholar
Lakoff, George and Mark Johnson. 1980. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Levý, Jiři. 1967. “Translation as a Decision Process.” In To Honor Roman Jakobson Vol. 21. The Hague/Paris: DeGruyter Mouton, 1171–1182.Google Scholar
Martín de León, Celia and Maria Presas. 2011. “Metaphern als Ausdruck subjektiver Theorien zum Übersetzen [metaphors as expressions of subjective theories of translation].” Target 23 (2), 272–310.Google Scholar
Mossop, Brian. 2010. “Translating what might have been written”. In Text and Context: Essays on Translation and Interpreting in Honour of Ian Mason, edited by Mona Baker, Maeve Olohan and María Calzada Pérez, 95–113. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Phillips, Anthony. 1992. “The Topology of Roman Mosaic Mazes.” Leonardo 25 (3/4), 321–29. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reed Doob, Penelope. 1990. The idea of the labyrinth from classical antiquity through the Middle Ages. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Schleiermacher, Friedrich. [1813] 2012. “On the Different Methods of Translating.” In The Translation Studies Reader 3rd ed., edited by Lawrence Venuti, 43–62. Translated by Susan Bernofsky. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
St. André, James. 2010a. “Translation and Metaphor: Setting the Terms.” In Thinking Through Translation with Metaphors, edited by James St. André, 1–16. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
. 2010b. “Translation as Cross-identity Performance.” In Thinking Through Translation with Metaphors, edited by James St. André, 275–294. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
. 2019. “List of Metaphors for Translation.” [URL]
Taivalkoski-Shilov, Kristiina. 2010. “When Two Become One: Reported Discourse Viewed through a Translatological Perspective.” In Translation effects. Leuven: CETRA, edited by Omid Azadibougar, 16 pp. [URL]
. 2013. “Voice in the field of translation studies.” In La traduction des voix intra-textuelles / Intratextual voices in translation, edited by Kristiina Taivalkoski-Shilov and Myriam Suchet, 1–10. Montréal: Éditions québécoises de l’oeuvre.Google Scholar
Tatarella, Francesca. 2016. Labyrinths & Mazes: a journey through art, architecture, and landscape. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.Google Scholar
Turchi, Peter. 2014. A Muse and a Maze: writing as puzzle, mystery, and magic. San Antonio, Texas: Trinity University Press.Google Scholar
Ullyatt, Tony. 2010. “‘An Abstract Model of Conjecturality’: Prolegomenon to an Understanding of Labyrinths and Mazes as Metaphors.” Journal of Literary Studies 26 (4), 73–97. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Williams, Hollis. 2020. “The mathematics of mazes.” To appear in Mathematics Today. [URL]
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Buts, Jan & Deniz Malaymar
2024. A Look at What is Lost: Combining Bibliographic and Corpus Data to Study Clichés of Translation. Corpus-based Studies across Humanities 1:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. 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.