Representation of translators and interpreters

Table of contents

Translators and interpreters as fictional characters in literature and film have seen an enormous boom since the 1980s. The fact that the popularity of this motif has been continuously increasing since the beginning of globalization is certainly no coincidence as literature never takes place outside society, but always reacts to social developments, changes and transformations in a versatile way. However, literature and also film have not only discovered translation as a topic and motif recently. In the literature of the Bible, for example, already the role of translators and interpreters was mentioned (e.g. in the Joseph story in Genesis 41–42). Also in the 12th century, interpreting was used as a literary motif in epic poetry (cf. Wiech 1951). And since a fictional translation and a fictional translator have been played with in Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel Cervantes, which has often been referred to as the first modern novel, this motif has been a permanent feature of literary work. Film also took up this subject very early. The Dragoman by the Briton Edward Sloman from the year 1916 or the early film version of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Greek Interpreter with the director George Ridgwell from the year 1922 show that the narrative potential of interpreting was recognized in silent films already.

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price.

References

Andres, Dörte
2008Dolmetscher als literarische Figuren. Von Identitätsverlust, Dilettantismus und Verrat. München: Meidenbauer.  TSBGoogle Scholar
Bachleitner, Norbert
1989“‘Übersetzungsfabriken.’ Das deutsche Übersetzungswesen in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jhdts.” Internationales Archiv für Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Literatur 14 (1): 1–49. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Borges, José Luis
1989Obras Completas 1923–1972. Buenos Aires: Emecé.Google Scholar
Cronin, Michael
2009Translation Goes to the Movies. London/New York: Routledge.  TSBGoogle Scholar
Cutter, Martha J
2005Lost and Found in Translation. Contemporary Ethnic American Writing and the Politics of Language Diversity. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.  TSBGoogle Scholar
Delabastita, Dirk & Grutmann, Rainier
2005“Introduction.” In Fictionalising Translation and Multilingualism, Dirk Delabastita & Rainier Grutman (eds). Special issue of Linguistica Antverpiensia 4: 11–34.  TSBGoogle Scholar
Hagedorn, Hans Christian
2006La Traduccíon Narrada. El Recurso Narrativo de la Traducción Ficticia. Cuenca: Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla-Mancha.Google Scholar
Kaindl, Klaus
2008“Zwischen Fiktion und Wirklichkeit: Translator Innen im Spannungsfeld von Wissenschaft, Literatur und sozialer Realität.” In Translationskultur – ein innovatives und produktives Konzept, Larisa Schippel (ed.), 307–333. Berlin: Frank & Timme.Google Scholar
Kaindl, Klaus & Kurz, Ingrid
2005“Einleitung.” In Wortklauber, Sinnverdreher, Brückenbauer? DolmetscherInnen und ÜbersetzerInnen als literarische Geschöpfe, Ingrid Kurz & Klaus Kaindl (eds), 9–18. Münster: LIT-Verlag.Google Scholar
(eds) 2008Helfer, Verräter, Gaukler? Das Rollenbild von TranslatorInnen im Spiegel der Literatur. Münster: LIT-Verlag.  TSBGoogle Scholar
Lévi-Strauss, Claude
1985La potière jalouse. Paris: Plon.Google Scholar
Meyers, Walter E
1980Aliens and Linguists. Language Study and Science Fiction. Athens: University of Georgia Press.Google Scholar
Naudé, Jacobus A
2008“The role of pseudo-translations in early Afrikaans travel writing.” Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 26 (1): 97–106. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Simon, Sherry
1999“Translating and interlingual creation in the contact zone. Border writing in Quebec.” In Postcolonial Translation. Theory, and Practice, Susan Susan Bassnett & Harish Trivedi (eds), 58–74. London/New York: Routledge.  TSBGoogle Scholar
Strümper-Krobb, Sabine
2009Zwischen den Welten. Die Sichtbarkeit des Übersetzers in der Literatur. Berlin: Weidler.Google Scholar
Vieira, Else Ribeiro Pires
1998“The development of a translation paideuma and poetics in Brazil. The Campos Brothers.” In Literary Cultures of Latin America. A Comparative History. Vol. II, Mario J. Valdés & Djelal Kadir (eds), 141–144. Oxford: University Press.Google Scholar
Wiech, Gertrud
1951Dolmetscherei in der weltlichen Epik des 12. Jahrhunderts. Tübingen: unpublished doctoral thesis.Google Scholar