A (Non)Theory of Translation in Five Mistakes

From Walter Benjamin to Suzanne Jill Levine, thinkers and translators have acknowledged the importance of the translator’s agency. Gregory Rabassa and others have also stressed that the translator is a writer, not a mere transcriber. There is an inherent tension in the work of translation between the translator’s subjectivity and the (at least superficially) objective combination of words that make up literary texts. Given the complexity of the task, slippage is inevitable. In other words, translators make mistakes. This paper argues that the translator’s fallibility is not disqualifying. Rather, it is part and parcel of the practice.