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Article published In:
Translation and Interpreting Studies
Vol. 12:1 (2017) ► pp.71–90

Ethico-aesthetics and the machinic repetition of literature in translation

| Insitutite for Gender Studies, Unisa

This article examines how translation practitioners might begin to develop a praxis that is based on an ontological polyvocality; one which allows for difficulty – even misconstrual and semantic breakdown – so that translations do not become mechanical reproductions, subsumed by systems of power, rather than machinic repetitions that allow for deterritorializations along lines of flight. Because, despite the fact that translations are regarded as relatively autonomous creations, they still conform; they are still produced in the socius which, in modern societies, aids the functioning of capitalism. The question arises: if translations – which are unavoidably a kind of literary repetition – are produced and constructed within capitalist societies, does this mean that they inevitably become mechanical reproductions rather than machinic repetitions? To answer this question, translation is investigated within the ethico-aesthetic framework developed by Félix Guattari and selected translations of passages in the oeuvre of the South African author Ingrid Winterbach are referenced.

Keywords: ethico-aesthetics, Deleuze and Guattari, Ingrid Winterbach, machinic repetition, mechanical reproduction
Article outline
  • 1.Mechanical reproduction or machinic repetition?
  • 2.Ethico-aesthetics: Mapping the new in contact with the real
  • 3.Of translation and Ingrid Winterbach’s oeuvre
  • 4.An analysis of the translations of selected passages from Winterbach’s oeuvre
    • 4.1Niggie/To Hell with Cronjé (2002/2007)
    • 4.2Die Boek van Toeval en Toeverlaat/The Book of Happenstance (2006/2008)
    • 4.3Die Benederyk/The Road of Excess (2010/2014)
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References


This article is currently available as a sample article.

Published online: 13 April 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.12.1.04van
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