Language, Works And Translation:Intrinsic "Solution" To Translation Action

The theoretical value of The Task of the Translator, written by Benjamin, is not limited in the field of linguistic philosophy. Since1980s, this article has drawn much interest from literary criticism and translation theory circles, and many scholars have regarded its idea-the internal relation among language, works and translation-as a criterion. Antoine Berman, a scholar from France, has made a contribution: retranslation and "comment"(instead of "criticism") of The Task of the Translator in a lecture, and The Age of Translation, his posthumous work, was compiled on the basis. This paper makes comments on The Age of Translation, i.e., to make the comments based on the review above. Compared with Antoine Berman’s opinions about Walter Benjamin in the light of, The Age of Translation focuses more on Berman’s translation thoughts under the influence of Benjamin. Thus, this paper puts the research emphasis on Berman, though they can not be separated at all.Berman translated the words written by Benjamin, which seemed unorganized, obscure and ambiguous, in order (on a line by line basis), while this paper tries to find out the clue and put the logic relation in order by studying The Age of Translation, discussing the relation between translation and language as well as the relationship of translation and works, and then going back to translation itself. Certainly, there is a sort of "affinity" among them, but it is "dedicated to" the evocation and introduction of "differences".The first chapter starts with the common task of translation and philosophy, and then discusses the metaphysical dimension of language, thus introducing the concept of "pure language". Adam’s language, that is, all the words people intend to speak out, is ideal and simple "words in your mouth", rather than the superposition of thousands of natural languages in the real world. Similarly, Benjamin also discusses his thoughts on the dimensions of ideal, absoluteness and even "vacuum" in the book. The word "task" has denotative meanings of "solution, dissolution and resolution", which is formed on the basis of German Romanticism, instead of "responsibility and obligation". The title of this paper involves "solution", a synonym for "task" in the context (in a logical sense), which is translated into "ways of resolution", referring to a middle course of thought. And it is just the non-communicative nature of "pure language" that determines "the task of translator", i.e., to perfect the "common ground" with "differences", instead of seeking common ground while reserving differences, is to complement the language itself in a fragmentary way.The second chapter differentiates and analyzes translation and communication, which is also powerful enough to subvert the traditional views of translation. In Benjamin’s opinion, language is not communication itself, but a habitat for all the communication. In other words, he believes communication lies in language. Translation is actually to change the sites of communication. Ideally, it changes from "translating language", a zone between source language and target language, featured by a loosely typed linguistic form and content, to "translated language", a zone with a language abounding in idiomatic expressions. Berman’s standpoint of literary translation-opposition to "ethnocentric, hypertext and Platonic" translation, is also clear, though Benjamin’s words and views are discussed herein. Besides, the subversion lies that the auto-reference and monologue of writers are emphasized while the role of readers, from the perspective of reception or communication, is weakened. In other words, works are not translated for readers, but for the original, which means to make the relation between works and its language more perfect though the later translation.The third chapter turns to the problem of translation itself, trying to figure out the essence of translation among several sets of expanding relations. The translator’s subjectivity tends to become the subjectivity of translation. What’s worse, the embarrassment concerning translation is also reflected in an elusive "obscure space" during the process and progress of translation, and huge gap between the thought and experience of translation. From the perspective of time and life, however, translation is an organization, or an "organism", thus being subjected to "translatability". That is to say, it depends on the development of works’language. In other words, it is also waiting for the "translatability". At some point in the development of works, the "untranslatability" with an absolute sense will be dissolved. Even if the result (of translation) does not make sense to the original, it is of certain significance to take in "differences" during the process, which is required in translation action.In an information age, it seems a sort of "Quixote" to rethink about "literary translation" rather than word-by-word translation, or to talk about Benjamin or Berman. In fact, the hope also lies in it:we do need, in such an age of easy communication, some slow but profound thoughts and practice of translation that have life characteristics and can make people "shiver", which will also contribute to the disenchantment of the Babel Myth.