week 11

Eternal Struggle for the Control of Meaning

Despite the recent approaches developed within the realm of Translation Studies, the traditional way of regarding translator as a humble servant between the ST and the TT still has certain dominance in a given society. Any kind of interference made by the translator –regardless of its purpose– is considered as an evil crime committed during the translation process. However, in certain phases of a given translation project, the text itself demands interference from its very reader, that is to say the translator, to get hold of the meaning inherent in it. Seen from this perspective, one can see how the power relationships peculiar to the study and practice of translation also takes place within the literary text itself. These dialectics of power, in fact, can be the essential key points of the plot of a given literary text.

In her article entitled “Writing, Interpreting, and the Power Struggle for the Control of Meaning: Scenes from Kafka, Borges and Kosztolányi”, Rosemary Arrojo dwells upon the power struggle in the literary texts. In her study, Arrojo also emphasizes how authors like Kafka and Borges build their fictional works on that particular notion: the power struggle. According to the scholar, “Nietzsche explores the connection between creation and power more fully, far beyond the limits of fiction writing, particularly through his concept of the ‘will to power’, generally described as ‘the creative and procreative impulse of life’” (2002: 63). Whereas in the works of Kafka and Borges the fictional characters, such as an architect or a detective strive for the control of the meaning, in Kosztolányi’s work the fictional character is a translator. In Kosztolányi’s work, “The Kleptomaniac Translator”, the main character of the short story creates a better work than the ST. Nevertheless, the translator’s approach was not accepted by the editors and it was found rather manipulative.

The bottom line here is, by analysing a fictional work as such Rosemary Arrojo brings into focus the contemporary understanding of translation in a given country. The fact that there is a huge gap lies between the academic world and the practical field of translation is a universal one, and most of the time the translator’s theoretical knowledge, decisions taken in line with this knowledge is not taken into consideration to a certain extent. In this respect, Arrojo’s article can be regarded as a certain work in which the ethics of translation is questioned from the vantage point of the translator.

On the whole, Rosemary Arrojo’s study is a fruitful one which sheds light on the notion of the power struggle within a given literary text. The scholar’s selection of the influential authors of the twentieth century makes sense to a certain degree as well. However, by doing so, Arrojo seems to be neglecting Brazilian (female) authors to some degree. For instance, the application of the labyrinth image through Arrojo analyzes Kafka’s short story “The Burrow”, on Clarice Lispector’s short story entitled “Looking for Some Dignity” (cf. 2003: 129-137, esp. 129-133), in which the heroine Mrs. Xavier tries to reach her destination through the labyrinths of Maracana Stadium, would surely help Arrojo to bring a new approach to the writings of Clarice Lispector in the English language. Furthermore, such an analysis to the work of Lispector would emancipate the Brazilian author from the hegemony of the French scholar Hélène Cixous whom Arrojo criticizes heavily in her article “Interpretation as Possessive Love: Hélène Cixous, Clarice Lispector and the Ambivalence of Fidelity” (1999: 141-161).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arrojo, Rosemary, “Interpretation as Possessive Love: Hélène Cixous, Clarice Lispector and the Ambivalence of Fidelity”, in Bassnett, Susan and Trivedi, Harish (eds.), Post-Colonial Translation, London-New York: Routledge, 1999, pp. 141-161

Arrojo, Rosemary, “Writing, Interpreting and the Control of Meaning”, in Gentzler, Edwin and Tymoczko, Maria (eds.), Translation and Power, University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, 2002, pp. 63-79

Lispector, Clarice, “Looking for Some Dignity”, Translation: Leland Guyer, in de Zapata, Celia Correas (ed.) Short Stories by Latin American Women: The Magic and the Real, The Modern Library, New York, 2003, pp. 129-137