Three dimensions of intention

- In the course of his tree lectures, Eco expounds on his contention that between the intention of the author (very difficult to find out and frequently irrelevant for the interpretation of the text) and the intention of the interpreter who (to quote Richard Rorty) simply «beats the text into a shape which will serve for his purpose», there is a third possibility. There is an intention of the text.

- The leading strands of contemporary critical thought «…appear to license the reader to produce a limitless, uncheckable flow of «readings»». What provides a limit, says Eco, is neither the author nor the interpreter, but the text itself.

Eco’s overinterpretation: model reader and empirical author

- If the number of possible meanings is endless, and endlessly acceptable (Eco’s definition of «overinterpretation»), the notion of communal norms on which to base reasonable interpretations and reject absurd interpretation collapses. For the modern reader under the sway of deconstruction, says Eco, every line of text is under suspicion; «the glory of the reader is to discover that texts can say everything, except what tрeir author wanted them to mean….»

- Eco argues that overinterpretation of a text can be recognized even if one does not believe there is only one correct understanding of the text. The intent of a given text, he says, is to produce what he calls the «model reader». This model reader takes the appropriate cues from the text so that, even if multiple interpretations are produced, certain overinterpretations are discarded as preposterous. Just how the text and reader are related involves reference to the so-called «hermeneutic circle».

 

Paul Ricouer (1913-2005): On translation (2004)

- Translation has been a central feature of his philosophy, though it was not until his later years that he made it an explicit theme of his work

- In On Translation (French, 2004; English 2006) he outlines two paradigms:

1) The linguistic paradigm, i.e. how words relate to meanings within the language and between the languages (double duty)

2) The ontological paradigm, i.e. how translation occurs between one human self and the another

(- translation oneself to the Other; - partiality;

- translator as a middleman «working through» two masters; - crucial openness to the other)

- A good translation is when one language discovers itself in and as another!

TRANSLATION AS A HERMENEUTIC MODEL

· His essay “The Paradigm of Translation”:

Ø Translation as a model of hermeneutics

Translation entails an exposure to strangeness. We are dealing with both an alterity residing outside the home language and alterity residing within it.

· “It is always possible to say the same thing in a different way. Now, to say sth in other terms is exactly what the translator does from one language to the other. The inputs at two ends, the two halves of the problem clarify each other and present the richness of the relationships with the Other”.

· There is no self-understanding; We are an engaged self that traverse the field of foreignness and return to ourselves again, altered and enlarged, “othered” (J. Joyce).

· Discovery of the other within the depth of the self.

· Five ethical functions of translation: ethic of hospitality, ethic of narrative flexibility, narrative plurality, transfiguring of the past.

Post structural hermeneutics

 

 

George Steiner “After Babel” (1975)

The hermeneutic motion, the act of elicitation and appropriative transfer of meaning, is fourfold.

1) Intuitive trust, an investment of belief

2) Aggression as a second move of the translator which is incursive and extractive; an active intention of taking something away, i.e. the input text

3) Incorporation, the import with appropriation and assimilation

Restitution, making the translation balanced (of forces from SL-TL)

HERMENEUTICAL TRANSLATION COMETENCE

The research group on hermeneutics in translation studies was founded by Radegundis Stolze (Technische Universität Darmstadt), John W. Stanley (Fachhochschule Köln) and Larisa Cercel (Albert-Ludwids-Universität Freiburg). Its task is research, networking and exchange of ideas regarding the hermeneutical approach in translation studies.

Elements of a hermeneutical translation competence include:

· The readiness of self-critical reflection;

· The openness for constant learning;

· The ability to integrate new cognitive input;

· The courage for linguistic creativity;

· An emphatic identification with a message;

Victor Koptilov (1969/1972) Process of interpretation: Phase I

Перший етап роботи над художнім перекладом, за В. Коптіловим, - це всебічний аналіз оригіналу, розгляд його змісту, семантики та стилю й основних конструктивних елементів його форми, окрім, безперечно, визначення місця першотвору в межах оригінальної літератури, літературного напряму, творчості даного автора [1972, с.68]. За Ї. Лєвим, це «осягнення» оригіналу, зваженість усіх його характерностей; в особі перекладача – і читач, і критик, і теоретик.

Phase IІ

Другий етап – пошук в мові перекладу і в традиції літератури, що існує цією мовою, адекватних засобів відтворення найважливіших рис оригіналу [1972, с.72]. Дослідники перекладу згідні, що навіть за умови рівноцінного прочитання одного й того ж твору (перший етап) художні переклади відрізняються ступенем мовної обдарованості перекладача, особливостями мовного опрацювання першотвору. Тому суть праці перекладача на другому етапі – це «визначення шляху, що ним піде перекладач, вибір засобів, які він подалі використовуватиме».

Phase III and IV

 

Третій етап праці перекладача, за аргументацією В. Коптілова, протилежний аналізові, «це – синтез у нове художнє ціле рис, виділених в оригіналі й трансформованих відповідно до особливостей літературної мови перекладу»

 

Четвертий етап – «момент аналітичної перевірки ступеня відповідності перекладеного оригіналові», коли перекладач виступає в ролі критика й дослідника власного перекладу. Ц. стадію названо «новим етапом аналізу», що стає новим витком спіралі творчих шукань перекладача.

 

 

Conclusions…

 

- Hermeneutics as theory, methodology and praxis of text interpretation (from exegesis to universality)

- Schleiermacher & Dilthey: authorial intent & hermeneutic circle

- Heidegger: language as being; (tradition of phenomenology from Husserl)

- Gadamer: horizon and effective-history principle

- Umberto Eco: intentions, overinterpretation, model reader.

- George Steiner: hermeneutic motion

- Hermeneutical translation competence

- Victor Koptilov: phrases of interpretation