Literary Back-Translation

Lukes, Alexandra and Venuti, Lawrence and Zechner, Dominik and Henry-Tierney, Pauline and Jinbo, Wang and Gaskill, Howard and Yeadon, Peter and Duranti, Riccardo and Akcan, Esra and Byrne-Taylor, Byron and Mieszkowski, Jan (2025) Literary Back-Translation. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh. ISBN 9781399523042

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Abstract

Walter Benjamin famously warned against the translation of translations. Yet, literary back-translations are increasingly being published: translations of literary texts are thus made accessible in the language of their original composition to their initial audience. This book argues that the malaise generated by literary back-translations is their very promise. For it transforms our conception of translation itself. It implies the recognition that translations are literary works in their own right and, as such, also worthy of translation. It thereby responds to Maria Timoczko’s crucial call for new approaches enlarging our understanding of translation, conceptually as well as ideologically. Literary back-translation reveals translation as much less teleological a process than assumed, a process that should no longer be understood as a balance of forces seeking “restitution” – as if it were possible – but as a way to enable literary works to travel in both directions, with no preconceived trajectory. •The first book on literary back-translation •An introduction theorizing literary back-translation, distinguishing it from retranslation and indirect translation, and delineating its aesthetic, political, ethical, and philosophical implications for authors, translators, publishers and readers •Chapters providing close analyses of poems and texts back-translated into a range of languages including Turkish and Chinese by a dozen authors (from Artaud, Beauvoir, Celan, Koestler and Cao Xueqín, to Benjamin and Derrida) •A book that not only works with, but contributes to, several methodological approaches (women and gender studies, postcolonial studies, material history, poetry, hermeneutics, AI translation, architecture, film, and photography) •A bibliography with a special section dedicated to known literary back-translations, to be collectively expanded on the book's companion website.