The Ecology of Translation, or, The Translator as World Author

In the last couple of decades, digital processes have accelerated what we typically call globalization. In contemporary scholarly literature on translation, then, the understanding of translators as relational agents has continually evolved. Scholars have, indeed, considered the importance of translators for the field of literary studies, but an ecological approach unfortunately remains absent in current research, since academics have relied either on deconstructive or pragmatist accounts of translation. Rather than passive mediators, then, I contend that translators represent an essential aspect of world authorship, thus examining the role of translators as a defining element of contemporary global culture.

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