Multiple translation and the translator’s visibility

Abstract This essay proposes to show how translation plurality, i. e. the existence of several translations of the same original, ensures the translation’s and the translator’s visibility. The starting point is Venuti’s concepts of ‘fluent translation’ or the ‘transparency’ of translation, coined for English-language translation practice between 1700 and today, and his – centuries old – distinction between domestication and foreignization. On the basis of Melchiorre Cesarotti’s project of a double Italian translation of the Iliad and, in particular, his theoretical reflections on translation, it is argued that translation plurality is one way to overcome the notion of only one fluent and transparent leading translation that is criticized by Venuti. The essay concludes with some remarks on building awareness of multiple translations, and on elaborating a general discourse of translation plurality.