TRANSLATION, READING, AND LITERARY THEORY (JAUB, BLOOM, FISH, ISER)

Our attitudes toward translation as an area of scholarly pursuit and study result largely from the assumptions that inhere in the ways we think about literature. These assumptions account for the marginal position translation occupies within the domain of literary-critical activity. One of the most persistent models within modern critical studies has been that of New Criticism. Given its fundamental attitude toward the text, New Criticism could view translation only as an "extrinsic" element, and thus of no concern. Much of recent literary theory, however, has reexamined many of those elements formerly considered extrinsic to the text. Within the diversity that prevails among contemporary theorists, investigations into the reader and the reading process have emerged prominently. One result has been to enlarge the context in which we view literature, offering an opportunity to connect literary and translation theory.; In a chapter historical in nature, we consider some of the central ideas set forth by translation theorists, with particular concern for how their theories take account of readers. We then examine the work of four literary theorists: Hans Robert Jaus, Harold Bloom, Wolfgang Iser, and Stanley Fish. They address, in decidedly different ways, the issue of meaning and its reception as well as of the reader and the reader's role in producing meaning. Our discussion focuses on determining what contributions their theories and models make toward translation and, in turn, how translation bears upon their claims.; These theorists redefine the text's status, and in doing so tend to undermine the authority of original texts. They thus render problematic the traditional distinction between original and translated texts, and elevate the translator's status. In the Conclusion, we consider the deconstructive critique as a further means by which to reexamine conventional assumptions concerning these issues.