{"id":2105,"date":"2012-05-15T10:00:44","date_gmt":"2012-05-15T08:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elanguage.net\/blogs\/booknotices\/?p=2105"},"modified":"2012-05-14T11:15:01","modified_gmt":"2012-05-14T09:15:01","slug":"ethics-and-politics-of-translating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/?p=2105","title":{"rendered":"Ethics and politics of translating"},"content":{"rendered":"
Ethics and politics of translating<\/strong>. By Henri Meschonnic<\/strong>. (Benjamins translation library 91; European society for translation studies subseries 7.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2011. Pp. vi, 178. ISBN 9789027224392<\/a>. $135 (Hb).<\/div>\n

Reviewed by Kanavillil Rajagopalan<\/a><\/strong>, State University at Campinas<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This book is a celebration of a work by the late Henri Meschonnic, originally written in French and translated and edited by Pier-Pascale Boulanger. It is presented in sixteen short chapters but is billed as an essay by the editor, who writes: \u2018In his essay \u00c9thique et politique du traduire <\/em>[\u2026], published in 2007, M deals concisely with the core issues he had been tackling since the 1970s [\u2026]\u2019. He adds that \u2018the present book follows up on Po\u00e9tique du traduire<\/em>, published in 1999, but focuses more intensely on the topic of rhythm and ethics in translation\u2019 (11). In this regard, the title and the contents of the book do not match.<\/p>\n

Preceding an introduction by the translator-cum-editor is a preface by Alexis Nouss<\/strong>, entitled \u2018A life in translation\u2019, which is essentially a eulogy. Nouss notes that M proposes no \u2018new arguments on translation\u2019, nor on \u2018the dynamics of subjectivity and historicity\u2019 (7). The all-encompassing theme is \u2018poetics\u2019, which \u2018concerns the totality of human constructions\u2019 and as such covers \u2018any human relation [which] has to take place through language\u2019 (7).<\/p>\n

In his twenty-two\u2013page long introduction, Pier-Pascale Boulanger<\/strong> begins by assessing M\u2019s stature as an original thinker and his trail-blazing role in denouncing some grave misinterpretations of Ferdinand Saussure\u2019s work, especially with regard to the distinction between meaning and form which, he says, Saussure never claimed was \u2018the true nature of language\u2019 (12). M was also profoundly disturbed by the way linguistics had parted company with literature, except for glorious exceptions like Roman Jakobson, who was a formative influence on M\u2019s own thought.<\/p>\n

Boulanger admits frankly that \u2018reading M in French is trying even for native French speakers\u2019 (29). Many English-speaking readers would readily agree. This also invites inevitable comparison with Jacques Derrida, M\u2019s more well-known compatriot and contemporary. For Boulanger, Derrida\u2019s style was \u2018catchy\u2019 (19) and his trademark deconstruction in tune with the dernier cri<\/em> of his times. M\u2019s work, by contrast, had no such political appeal, and it did not have \u2018the seductive powers of Derrida\u2019s writing and [the] infatuation of deconstructionists\u2019, which M dismissed as the \u2018Derrida effect\u2019 (20).<\/p>\n

With regard to M\u2019s own writing, its aphoristic, and often epigrammatic, style may make it difficult for the average reader to comprehend his message, as Boulanger rightly warns. Equally challenging is his somewhat meandering way of exposing ideas. The sixteen \u00a0chapters of this book have headings like \u2018Faithful, unfaithful, just more of the same, I think thee O sign\u2019, \u2018Sourcerer [sic], targeteer [sic], the same thing\u2019, \u2018Embiblicizing the voice\u2019, and so forth, which are more enigmatic than user-friendly. Additionally, neologisms like \u2018decurrentfrechify\u2019 and \u2018unthought\u2019 may fluster a reader.<\/p>\n

M exhorts translators to pay more attention to the materiality of their source text and its native rhythm, therein lay his ethics of translating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ethics and politics of translating. By Henri Meschonnic. (Benjamins translation library 91; European society for translation studies subseries 7.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2011. Pp. vi, 178. ISBN 9789027224392. $135 (Hb). Reviewed by Kanavillil Rajagopalan, State University at Campinas This book is a celebration of a work by the late Henri Meschonnic, originally written in French […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2105"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2105"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2106,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2105\/revisions\/2106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}