Untranslatability

Duncan Large is Professor of European Literature and Translation at the University of East Anglia, and Academic Director of the British Centre for Literary Translation. His philosophy translations are published by OUP and Continuum; he is also joint General Editor of The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche.Motoko Akashi completed her MA in Applied Translation Studies at the University of East Anglia in 2013 and is currently completing a PhD in Translation Studies there. Her research focuses on the phenomenon of celebrity translators, and asks how their existence problematises our understanding of translator visibility.Wanda Józwikowska completed her PhD in Literary Translation at the University of East Anglia in 2016, with a dissertation on "Polish-Jewish Fiction Before the Second World War: A Testing Ground for Polysystem Theory." She is currently working for SDI Media, a Warsaw-based localising company.Emily Rose finished her PhD in Literary Translation at the University of East Anglia in 2018. Her thesis explores the translation of trans identity from English, French and Spanish. Her work has been included in Queer in Translation (Routledge, 2017) and a special issue of Transgender Studies Quarterly (November 2016).

• IntroductionDuncan Large, Motoko Akashi, Wanda Józwikowska and Emily RosePart I: Theory and Philosophy1. Humboldt, Translation and the Dictionary of UntranslatablesBarbara Cassin2. Untranslatability, Entanglement and UnderstandingTheo Hermans3. On the (Im)possibility of UntranslatabilityKirsten Malmkjær4. The Untranslatable in PhilosophyDuncan Large5. Against the "Un-" in Untranslatability: On the Obsession with Problems, Negativity and UncertaintyKlaus Mundt6. The Affront of Untranslatability: Ten ScenariosDavid GramlingPart II: Poetry and Prose7. Translation and Mysticism: Demanding the Impossible?Philip Wilson8. Remembered Hills: Tonal Memory in English Translations of Chinese Regulated Verse Simon Everett9. "An English that is Sometimes Strangely Interesting": Ciaran Carson Mining Linguistic Resources Using TranslationHelen Gibson10. Surmounting the "Insurmountable" Challenges of Translating a Transgender Memoir Emily Rose11. Is ‘Fajront’ in Sarajevo the Same as ‘Closing Time’ Elsewhere? On the Translatability of the Yugoslav Age of Rock and Roll into EnglishAndrea Stojilkov12. Resistance to Translation as Cultural Untranslatability: Inter-War Polish-Jewish Fiction in EnglishWanda JózwikowskaEnvoi: Beyond Literature13. Untranslatability in Practice: Challenges to Translation and InterpretingJoanna Drugan

"However diverse its contributions, the book’s quality is consistent, singular and assured. While many collections aim for such standards, its diversity never feels forced, nor does the topic ever feel stretched beyond its scope of relevance. All the contributions are referring and responding to Apter and Cassin’s work, nevertheless in ways that are diverse and original each time." - Byron Taylor, University College London, Oxford Comparative Criticism & Translation"This collection of thirteen papers is a key read for a student of Translation Studies and translators in general." -Vinay S.M., Translation Today"The explorations of untranslatability [here] include both theoretical/philosophical reflections and empirical examinations of concrete examples from a multiplicity of genres and contexts...The book may thus shed important interdisciplinary insights for scholars interested in exploring aspects of untranslatability and other related issues." - Gao Xing, China University of Geosciences at Wuhan, Babel