Translation as Transduction: The Balancing Act of a Literary Translator
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | We tell stories because we are human. In today’s day and age, where the quality of being “human” more often than not presents itself as an antithesis to MT/AI systems and various technological advancements that change the way we work and think, storytelling assumes greater importance as one of the last bastions of the perplexing human condition. Story-worlds travel from wordsmiths, creators, and masterminds to readers, listeners, and audiences, shaping our collective experiences and fulfilling various purposes. Some stay, some go, some remain unchanged, and some travel so far that they become nearly unrecognizable; yet none makes their journey completely unaided. With this in mind, this paper deliberates about the dyadic role of a literary translator, and their two mindsets alternating between translator-as-reader and translator-as-author. This reflection springs from a sentiment that marriage of translation studies and narratology is long overdue, and aims to re-define translation as “transduction”, an exchange of material between the parties involved, not dissimilar to a dynamic communication model. With its theoretical background anchored in fictional worlds theories, the main objective of this paper is to discuss how a literary translator fits within the proposed framework, and how their unique position influences the way narratives are shaped in the process of translation. In parallel, this exploration follows an underlying objective, which is to showcase the shared terrain where translation studies and narratology intersect. |