Popovič gives a basic definition of self-translation as “the translation of an original work into another language by the author himself” ([1976]: 19). He also argues that self-translation “cannot be regarded as a variant of the original text but as a true translation” ([1976]: 19). Numerous recent studies are less positive in defining this practice. For Koller faithfulness “autotranslation” from “true” translation: ‘the author-translator will feel justified in introducing changes into the text where an ‘ordinary’ translator might hesitate to do so” (1979/1992: 197). Yet the application of the concept of faithfulness to translation has been challenged, and today the notion is virtually obsolete. Koller suggests that the difference between translation and self-translation is a matter of authority. Goldoni, the playwriter (1707–1793) who wrote both in Italian and French, practising self-translation, confirms that: “I nevertheless had an advantage in this regard over others: a mere translator would not have dared, even in the face of difficulty, to sidestep the literal sense; but I, as the author of my own work, was able to change words, the better to conform to the taste and customs of my nation” (Goldoni, 2003: 257). Drawing on the difference in authorship between translation and self-translation, Jung emphasises an important advantage of self-translators with respect to the “original” text: “The main difference between ordinary translators and self-translators […] is the fact that self-translators can access their original intention and the original cultural context or literary intertext of their original work better than ordinary translators” (Jung 2002: 30).
2007Translating lives: Living within two languages and cultures. Queensland: University of Queensland Press.
Bohórquez, Paola
2014, “Attaccamenti intraducibili: le problematiche degli affetti nell’autotraduzione translinguistica.” In La lingua spaesata. Il multilinguismo oggi, Chiara Montini (ed.). Bologna: Bononia University Press.
(eds)2013Autotraduzione e riscrittura. Bologna: Bononia University Press.
Cordingley, Anthony
(ed.)2013Self-Translation: Brokering Originality in Hybrid Culture. London: Bloomsbury.
Dasilva, Xosé Manuel & Tanqueiro, Helena
(eds)2011Aproximaciones a la autotraducción. Vigo: Editorial Academia del Hispanismo.
Ferraro, Alessandra
2011L’autotraduzione nelle letterature migranti. Oltreaceano, Udine: Editrice universitaria udinese.
Fitch, Brian T
1988Beckett & Babel. An Investigation into the Status of the Bilingual Work. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Goldoni, Carlo
1993Storia del mio teatro, Milan: Rizzoli.
Grutman, Rainier
2008 “Self-translation”, In Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, Mona Baker & Gabriela Saldanha (eds), London: Routledge.
Hokenson, Jan Walsh & Munson, Marcela
2007The Bilingual Text. History and Theory of Literary Self-Translation. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing. TSB
Jacobs, J.U
2002“Translating the Heart of Darkness: cross-cultural discourse in the contemporary Congo Book.” In Translation, diversity and power, Ileana Dimitriu (ed.). Special issue of Current Writing 14 (2): 104–117
Jung, Verena
2002English-German self-translation of academic texts and its relevance for translation theory and practice. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. TSB
Koller, Werner
1979Einführung in die Übersetzungswissenschaft. Uni-Taschenbücher 819. Heidelberg: Quelle & Meyer. BoP
Lagarde, Christian & Tanqueiro, Helena
(eds)2013L’autotraduction aux frontières de la langue et de la culture. Limoges: Lambert & Lucas.
Osimo, Bruno
1999“Nabokov’s selftranslations: interpretation problems and solutions in Lolita’s Russian version.”Sign System Studies 27: 215–233. TSB
Oustinoff, Michaël
2001Bilinguisme d’écriture et auto-traduction: Julien Green, Samuel Beckett, Vladimir Nabokov. Paris: L’Harmattan. TSB
Popovič, Anton
1976A Dictionary for the Analysis of Literary Translation. University of Alberta: Edmonton.
Tanqueiro Helena
2000“Self-Translation as an extreme Case of the author-Translator-Dialectic.” In Investigating Translation, Allison Beeby, Doris Ensinger & Marisa Presas (eds), 55–63. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John BenjaminsTSB.
