ANTHONY PYM ON TRANSLATING AND TRANSCENDENCE. TRANSCENDENCE The moving of a text from one speech event to another. (Not a quality of the text itself;

What is translation?

Anthony PymON TRANSLATING and TRANSCENDENCE1TRANSCENDENCEThe moving of a text from one speech event to another. (Not a quality of the text itself; it does not concern original utterance.)Translators are often called upon to enact transcendence. To create an aura of legitimacy and power (over time and space, and thus people).

Intercultural Studies Group2A modelTranslations mark the borders of cultures.Transcendent messages travel:

. . . Culture A, Tr, Culture B, Tr, Culture C, Tr, Culture D . . .

Culture A, Tr, Culture B

. . . Tr, Culture A, Tr . . .

Intercultural Studies Group3A cultural technologyStoneFor difficult correctionAnd unforeseeable reception

Intercultural Studies Group4

666Marbel plaque which describes the Burj but from the point of view of the Burj itself. The narrative asserts the Burj (Tower) as the Great I AM. Claiming to be the highest building in the world, it personifies power, beauty, creativity, knowledge. It sees all and seduces all. Moreover, it represents what Derrida might have called the phallic metaphysics of presence. It is a transcendental signifier. Strong, hard, the centre.

30 spelling MISTAKES? Intercultural Studies Group

8A TRANSCENDENT TEXTThose heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives ... you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us, where they lie, side by side here in this country of ours. You, the mothers, who sent their [sic] sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.Atatrk 1934

Intercultural Studies Group9GALLIPOLI STONES, 1978 Intercultural Studies Group

10GALLIPOLI STONES, 1978 Intercultural Studies Group

11ATATRK MONUMENT, CANBERRA, 1985

Intercultural Studies Group12ATATRK MONUMENT, ANZAC COVE, 1985 Intercultural Studies Group

13ATATRK MONUMENT, WELLINGTON, 1990

Intercultural Studies Group14BUT HE NEVER SAID IT Intercultural Studies Group

15THE TURKISH TEXTBurada bir dost vatann toprandasnz. Huzur ve skn iinde uyuyunuz. Sizler, Mehmetiklerle yanyana, koyun koyunasnz. Uzak diyarlardan evltlarn harbe gnderen analar! Gzyalarnz dindiriniz. Evltlarnz bizim barmzdadr. Huzur iindedirler ve huzur iinde rahat uyuyacaklardr. Onlar, bu toprakta canlarn verdikten sonra, artk bizim evltlarmz olmulardr.Atatrk 1934

Intercultural Studies Group16There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to usSizler: You are Mehmet-: common Turkish given name, hence metonym for rank and file soldier-ik-: diminutive, expressing affection-ler-: plural -le: with yanyana: side by sidekoyun koyunasnz: lying embracing each other (as friends, or cuddled up like children)

Intercultural Studies Group17THE MISSING ELEMENTSJohnniesno differenceto us

How do you translate Mehmets? (cultural correspondence + compensation + translation couplet)Are our sons different? (explicitation; compensation)And surely this is all to us? (explicitation)

Intercultural Studies Group18A pragmatic analysisThe heart of military shrines in Australia has a monument to an enemy commander. You need a promise of conciliation, resolution. Hence the translation.

Intercultural Studies Group19A pragmatic analysisA Turk speaking to Turks at an old military site would talk about something else: There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us, where they lie, side by side here in this country of ours.Means: leave them there. . the monuments of the invaders, or the untouched traces of the heroes left here in the form of sacred stones and soil we want no more death monuments (Atatrk 1931)

Intercultural Studies Group20A pragmatic analysis Intercultural Studies Group

21transcendenceThe translators can recover the polysemy of texts.Cultures distort the message.

. . . Tr, Culture A, Tr . . .

And yet the text remains meaningful (iterable). How so?

Intercultural Studies Group22Augustine of hippo[] the idea erupts in my mind like a rapid illumination, whereas my speech is long and delayed and not at all like the idea, and while I speak, the thought has hidden in its secret place. The idea has left no more than a few vestiges imprinted in my memory, and these vestiges linger throughout the slowness of my words. From those vestiges we construe sounds, and we speak Latin, or Greek, or Hebrew, or any other language. But the vestiges are not Latin, nor Greek, nor Hebrew, nor of any other community. They are formed in the mind, just as a facial expression is formed in the body. (c.400; my translation)

Intercultural Studies Group23Understanding through suffering?

Intercultural Studies Group

24Negative ethicsPopper (1952: 570-571): there is no symmetry between happiness and suffering.

Intercultural Studies Group25