Contexts in poetic translation
Iterability, event, openness
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12183263 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ming Xie (0000-0001-8013-7274, University of Toronto, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 205-219 |
| Publication date | 2011-09-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Perspectives (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0907-676X • E-ISSN: 1747-6623 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/0907676x.2010.514349 |
| OpenAlex | W2137361754 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 11 |
This article explores, from a theoretical point of view, how forms of context and poetic translation complicate each other, with a focus on English translation from classical Chinese poetry. I argue that a poem is an event that brings about a singular but dynamic conjuncture of text and context. Context in the sense of ‘background’ is only a necessary, but not a sufficient, context for a poem's meaning. Only sufficient contexts can (re)create a poem's singularity, which exceeds what is iterable in its meaning and resides as much in its non-semantic presence-effects. What matters is often the invisible or absent context, the presence and presupposition of what is not said in and beyond what is said. A poem's meanings can go beyond the context of the poet's intentions, but are nevertheless present in the pragmatic context and logic of the poem's own words. Some of this virtual but real meaning may come to be articulated only through translation. A poem is ‘iterable’ and hence translatable because it can be re-contextualized. The poetic may be the degree of a poem's indeterminacy and openness to the performative enactment of its logic of re-contextualization. Keywords: contextpoetic translationimplicatureiterabilityeventsingularityopennessverbal meaningnon-verbal sensesemantic meaningnon-semantic meaningnecessary contextsufficient context Notes 1. In this article, I follow the transliteration practices of the translators I quote for Chinese names and titles, but supply the pinyin equivalents in brackets at their first appearance. All bibliographic references in Chinese are given in pinyin. 2. See Lodge, Citation1977, for a critical discussion of the application of Jakobson's dichotomy to literary analysis. See also Prynne, Citation1986. 3. For example: ‘high notes’ [in music] (Birrell, Citation1986, p. 310), ‘willow’ [liu: to ask someone to ‘stay’ when parting; hence ‘lingering’ sadness] (p. 333), ‘steps, usually described as being of jade’ [erotic] (p. 327). 4. This kind of imagistic and rhythmic recontextualization is akin to the notion of ‘transumption’ and allusive echo developed by John Hollander (Citation1981, p. 64), a mode of resonance that does not depend on conscious intention, unlike allusion proper. 5. See also Mateo (Citation2009, p. 2), for a discussion of ‘strong implicatures’ in relevance theory
Art · Context (archaeology · Contextualization · Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Literature · Meaning (existential · Performative utterance · Poetry · History · Philosophy · Translation Studies and Practices
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2021 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |