Mircea-Andrei GOLBAN
The Task of the Poet and the Task of the Translator. Comparing Two Types of Discourses
Institution:
Babeş-Bolyai University Cluj, Faculty of Letters
Author's email:
mircea.golban@gmail.com
Abstract:
The essay joins together the concepts of transformation, negotiation and adequacy with the concept of translatability. Firstly, I conducted my research on Walter Benjamin’s text about translation. What stands out is the difference between the poet and the translator, but mainly the concept of pure languageas described by Benjamin. Secondly, I reviewed Benjamin’s text through a poststructuralist perspective (Derrida, Pierre Bourdieu, Paul de Man and Paul Ricœur), finally reaching the acknowledgement of the impossibility of a perfect translation. Lastly, the paper gives an example of the reason why a text can be difficult to translate (Derrida’s letters).
