In:Translation Studies between Disciplines and Practices
Edited by Luc van Doorslaer and Yves Gambier
[Benjamins Translation Library 174] 2026
► pp. 373–392
Chapter 19Rhetoric and translation
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Abstract
Historically, the conceptual topos of
translatio established the ties between the
translation studies (including the practice of translation) and
rhetoric. Now, as we argue here, the philosophical concept of
semantic excess — that in language, meaning is never fixed nor
absolute — is the essential touchstone tying them together. For
example, Benjamin and Perelman are intensely engaged in semantic
excess in language, and in particular its slippery temporality: for
Benjamin, this appears in the fragmentary nature of translation, and
for Perelman’s New Rhetoric Project (with Olbrechts-Tyteca), in such
confused notions as justice and democracy. Semantic excess not only
binds the two disciplines, but clarifies their central dynamic as
one of mobility and displacement.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Rhetoric, translation, and a history of semantic excess
- 3.Rhetorical translation: The case of Walter Benjamin and Chaïm Perelman
- 4.Conclusion
- Author queries
Notes References
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