We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Culture, Looking Back, and Translation of the Book of Changes.
- Authors
Fendos Jr., Paul G.
- Abstract
The history of translation in the West reveals that theoretical discourse on translation has moved back and forth between source and target. In contemporary Translation Studies the pendulum is clearly swinging in the direction of target. Skopos theory, for example, describes translation as a purposeful action leading to a new situation or object. Polysystem theory examines the ways in which source texts are received by the target culture. And Postcolonial and Feminist theory posit a moral authority in the receptor that determines what text is chosen and how it is translated. However, this article attempts to push the focus back and closer to the source. It does so by arguing a common sense position: When translating, especially when translating material from a remote time or place, knowledge of source-in particular culture-is a prerequisite to understanding any text, and something without which even a cursory attempt at equivalence is impossible. Article content centers on translations of the Book of Changes, introducing, in passing, the Traditionalists and Modernists, the two main schools of translation associated with it. The article highlights one author, J. S. Marshall, and problems found with his translations that grow out of "retroactive interpretation", a not uncommon attempt to solve the difficulties arising from a lack of the above mentioned knowledge of source.
- Subjects
LITERATURE translations; YI jing; DISCOURSE analysis; SKOPOS (The Greek word); TRANSLATING &; interpreting
- Publication
Translation Quarterly, 2010, Issue 57, p50
- ISSN
1027-8559
- Publication type
Article