Résumés
Abstract
Walter Benjamin’s essay “The Task of the Translator,” the most widely cited twentieth century philosophical statement on translation, is commonly seen as one of the most opaque and misunderstood essays in the field. This paper uses a close reading of Benjamin’s doctoral thesis, “The Concept of Criticism in German Romanticism,” to throw light on his thoughts on translation. I argue that the German Romantics’ definition of art, and art’s relation to criticism, are crucial to understanding why Benjamin conceived of translation as an “afterlife” of the work of art, why he believed that translatability is an innate quality of the work of art, and why he speaks of translation as moving the work of art onto a higher plane. I read Benjamin’s own essay on translation as a sort of “criticism” which seeks to “translate” the philosophical ideals of the Romantics, and thus give them an afterlife, and then reflect upon the implications for translation studies today.
Keywords:
- Walter Benjamin,
- Friedrich Schlegel,
- German Romanticism,
- philosophy of translation,
- The Task of the Translator,
- afterlife
Résumé
« La tâche du traducteur » de Walter Benjamin, sans doute l'une des prises de position philosophiques sur la traduction les plus citées du XXe siècle, est souvent considéré comme l'un des essais les plus obscurs et mal compris de la discipline. L'article propose de clarifier la pensée de Benjamin sur la traduction à l'aide d'une analyse détaillée de sa thèse de doctorat, Le concept de critique esthétique dans le romantisme allemand. En effet, la définition de l'art et la relation entre art et critique proposées par les romantiques allemands sont des notions essentielles pour bien comprendre pourquoi Benjamin conçoit la traduction comme une « survie » de l’oeuvre, pourquoi il croit que la traduisibilité est une qualité intrinsèque de cette dernière et pourquoi il fait référence à la traduction comme à un moyen de transporter une oeuvre vers les sphères supérieures. La thèse de Benjamin est vue ici comme une « critique » qui vise à « traduire » l'idéal philosophique des romantiques, leur offrant ainsi leur « survie ». Une réflexion sur la portée de ces considérations pour la traductologie suit.
Mots-clés :
- Walter Benjamin,
- Friedrich Schlegel,
- romantisme allemand,
- philosophie de la traduction,
- La tâche du traducteur,
- la survie
Parties annexes
Parties annexes
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