Campus - Reutlingen - University - Magazine - Hochschule ...

34
22 „A rose is a rose…
22 „A rose is a rose is a rose…“
A rose is a rose is a rose…“, Gertrude
Stein, „Sacred Emily“, 1913
When reading the following pages the
attentive reader will wonder which text
came first, the English or the German.
We hope we have made it as difficult as
possible for you to decide, as the most
important consideration when producing
the translations was not faithfulness to
the original pieces, but rather readability.
This made different demands on each of
the two sides involved in the process.
A vindication for this approach appeared
very recently. Umberto Eco, one of the
most powerful literary figures of recent
times – a professor of semiotics and
himself also a translator – has spoken
out. His book about translation is now
available in German and has been under
discussion for a variety of reasons, Eco’s
recent 75 th birthday, among others. In his
review entitled “Daneben ist nicht vorbei”
– a near miss, still close enough - which
appeared in January 2007, Zeit-journalist
Hinrich Schmidt-Henkel praises Burkhard
Kroeber’s translation of the book from
the Italian more than he does the book
itself. And therewith we have established
impeccable credentials for this piece.
The sub-title of Schmidt-Henkel’s review
“Quasi dasselbe mit anderen Worten” –
virtually six of one and half a dozen of
the other - brings us directly to the core
of his argument, and leads us to speculate
about untranslatability and to suspect
that “quasi” – virtually - and “dasselbe”
- the same thing - are functioning as
synonyms for the linguistic and cultural
gap between the original and the
translation.
TSchmidt-Henkel writes, “This is a
delightful doll within a doll: a book about
translating which, when it first appeared
in Italian, was itself described by a German
cultural commentator as untranslatable.
That commentator was wrong.
‘Negotiation’ is one of the central
concepts in Eco’s book. In using this term
the author strengthens the position of
the translator as an independent agent,
as someone who faces the original as a
servant but not as a slave, who allows
the original to lead him, but not to keep
him on too tight a rein.”
The translator, like a ferryman on a river
flowing sluggishly along the border
between two different countries, crosses,
as it were, from one river-bank to the
other in order to close this linguistic gap;
however, because of the current and the
pull of cultural considerations, he will
not arrive at exactly the same place on
the other side, he cannot dock directly
opposite.
For the passengers, or, in this case, the
readers, this is irrelevant, as they simply
cast off from wherever is suitable and
disembark at their destination, because
that is the easiest thing to do, or because
that is what the topography demands, or
for both reasons. It is left to the courage
and initiative of the ferryman-translator
to find a suitable place to land.
Schmidt-Henkel continues, “…Through
this book the literary translator feels
appreciated in the most pleasant way
imaginable, indeed he will appreciate
himself more, as Eco unravels and makes
comprehensible a large number of
processes which take place
subconsciously and in fractions of a
second in the translator’s brain.”
“And so ‘Quasi dasselbe mit anderen
Worten’ demonstrates, by its very
existence, that ‘correct’ translation is
necessarily, and perfectly legitimately,
always a paraphrase, a fruitful reshaping
of the original piece. Very close to the
target, but precisely for that reason not
a near miss.”
On this note the authors and translators,
to whom we would like at this point to
express our grateful thanks, wish you the
readers a great deal of pleasure from the
following pages.
CRUISING:………the ferryman translator wishes a pleasant trip