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Steiner states that the reason for the lack of new developments in translation
theory is that translation is a hermeneutical task, "not a science, but an exact art.
He defines translation as the act of elicitation and appropriative transfer of
meaning, which consists in four parts: trust, aggression, embodiment and
restitution.
Trust is an essential prerequisite for all interpretive activities and Steiner says:
All understanding, and the demonstrative statement of understanding which is
translation, starts with an act of trust. Literalism, paraphrase and free imitation
are different approaches toward translation, but the element of trust is present in each
one of them.
In this step, the translator selects a text and approaches it with this trust that there
is something there worth translating and there is something that can be understood.
Steiner believes that in this step, the translator shows generosity to an alien text.
In the same time, the translator finds himself vulnerable to the dialectically
related risks. Or he may find that there is 'nothing there' which can be divorced
from its formal autonomy, that every meaning worth expressing is monadic and
will not enter into any alternative mould.
Considering that, the second part of the hermeneutical motion emerges:
aggression. This part is incursive and extractive, but ultimately necessary in the
comprehension of the SL text.
Here, Steiner draws on Hegel and Heidegger to explore the aggressive nature of
all understanding, all interpretation of every hermeneutic method. The translator
enters the SL (source language) text, driven no longer by passive trust, but by the
active intention of taking something away. This view of language is problematic
because every text is composed in a particular social, cultural and historical
background and is, as a consequence, deeply influenced by it. Steiner considers the
The fact that the translators kept all the symbols in their translations takes me
to the embodiment step. As Poes poem is about sadness, loneliness and melancholy,
all three translators managed to convey what they understood into Romanian
language.
There are several words that Poe used in his poem that were found in the Romanian
translation (St. Augustin Doinas is the only one who used all of them): seraphim,
nepenthe, balm in Gilead, Aidenn, Plutonian. The use of this ancient and
poetic language seems appropriate, since the poem is about a man spending most of
his time with books of "forgotten lore."
In my opinion, the fourth part of the hermeneutic motion is represented by the
leitmotiv nevermore, used by Poe at the end of almost every verse. All three
translators preferred to use the English word to be able to keep the poets dramatic
emotions. No other Romanian word could replace at the fullest the meaning of
nevermore.
References:
George Steiner, Dupa Babel, Editura Univers, Bucuresti, 1983
https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~chaoran/essays/steiner.html
http://www.unesco.uj.edu.pl/documents/2205554/33980917/STEINER,
%20GEORGE.pdf
http://interconf.fl.kpi.ua/en/node/1274
http://www.heise.de/ix/raven/Literature/Lore/TheRaven.html
http://www.pruteanu.ro/701corbul-doinas.htm
http://www.pruteanu.ro/701corbul-rom+.htm
http://www.pruteanu.ro/701corbul-solom.htm
http://www.poedecoder.com/essays/raven/