Notes on memory culture and the (un)translatable, with illustrative reference to Elfriede Jelinek's Die Kinder der Toten (1995).
Some commentators regard Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek's major work, Die Kinder der Toten (1995), not only as a difficult novel but also as an untranslatable text. Various aspects of the novel seem to support this: not only does the text include a great many denotative and connotative 'untranslat...
| Publicado en: | Literator Vol. 40; no. 1; pp. 1 - 10 |
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| Autor principal: | |
| Formato: | Literary Criticism |
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African Online Scientific Information System PTY LTD
2019
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=141257509&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 141257509 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 02582279 G1C jtl: Literator issn: 02582279 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2019 vid: 40 iid: 1 pid: 56831 pub: African Online Scientific Information System PTY LTD artinfo: ui: 141257509 10.4102/lit.v40i1.1617 ppf: 1 ppct: 9 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 740KB tig: atl: Notes on memory culture and the (un)translatable, with illustrative reference to Elfriede Jelinek's Die Kinder der Toten (1995). aug: au: van den Berg, Cilliers affil: Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa su: Die Kinder der Toten (Book) Jelinek, Elfriede, 1946- Collective memory English translations of literature Historical linguistics sug: subj: Die Kinder der Toten (Book) Jelinek, Elfriede, 1946- Collective memory English translations of literature Historical linguistics keyword: Austrian vergangenheitsbewältigung Die Kinder der Toten Elfriede Jelinek memory cultures translation Untranslatability ab: Some commentators regard Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek's major work, Die Kinder der Toten (1995), not only as a difficult novel but also as an untranslatable text. Various aspects of the novel seem to support this: not only does the text include a great many denotative and connotative 'untranslatables' but Jelinek's deconstructivist understanding of language also suggests a philosophically orientated slant to its untranslatability. The latter is first and foremost illustrated by her use of 'Sprachflächen' that subverts a linear reading of the novel. However, the very 'untranslatability' of the text should not be understood as an obstacle that defeats any and all attempts at its translation. As Apter (2014) and Cassin (2016) suggest, the untranslatable is precisely that which one does not stop (not) to translate. Viewed from this perspective, it seems as if the very untranslatability of Die Kinder der Toten can be understood as an invitation to engage with the complexities of the text and the memory culture it represents. These complexities can be related to the historical particularities of the Austrian memory culture that Jelinek presents and criticises in her novel. The untranslatable nature of Die Kinder der Toten illustrates that memory culture and its discursive artefacts have no definitive meanings that can easily be translated. And because the engagement with difficult pasts is continuous, no translation of the works created in its wake can be definitive. To a large extent, the untranslatable becomes the catalyst of continuous attempts to engage with a difficult past from an outsider perspective. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Literary Criticism src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Literator is the property of African Online Scientific Information System PTY LTD and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Literator holder: African Online Scientific Information System PTY LTD dt: @attributes: year: 2019 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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