Fictional representations of author-translator relationships

• Published in: Translation studies Vol. 4; no. 1; pp. 87 - 102
• Main Author: Wakabayashi, Judy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis Group 01.01.2011; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: authorship; fictional representations; Interpreters; literary creativity; Novels; Roles; Translations; translator-author relationships; translators; Writers
• ISSN: 1478-1700; 1751-2921
• DOI: 10.1080/14781700.2011.528684

This paper explores the nature and spectrum of relationships between authors and translators as identified in a corpus of fictional representations. Author-translator relationships offer fertile ground for fiction writers because of the frequent entangling of these two roles. These fictional constructions have the potential to offer theoretical insights into the creative nature and limits of translatorship and its overlapping with authorship and also to question the superiority usually ascribed to the latter. They can problematize concepts such as creativity, original and translation by highlighting both the derivative aspects of "original" writing and the creative aspects of translation, and they can identify certain aspects that have not been fully explored in the theoretical literature, such as the affective impact of translators' work. They might also stimulate meditations on or provide alternative models for real-life relationships, highlight the need to counter misleading constructions, or operate purely at the level of art.