Intertextuality as a new (old) challenge in the theory and practice of literary translation

Abstract

The article deals with the necessity of making better use of and adopting literature studies in the field of intertextuality by translatologists for the sake of translation theory (and not just translation criticism). So far, from the point of view of translation theory no (satisfactorily clear-cut) description tools for intertextual dialogue have been elaborated, let alone ways of its potential verbalisation in the translation / target text. This, however, results not so much from the difficulty of specifying all possible, potential methods and ways of referring to intertexts. The reason lies rather in the impossibility of producing a set of ready-to-use translation solutions. The fact is that translation solutions always depend on the type of intertext and its context, on its way of being rooted in the source culture, on its degree of familiarity in the target culture and last but not least on the type of intertextual reference, that is, on how evident it is. Distinguishing between primary references (as indispensable for decontextualisation and recontextualization) and secondary references (as completing the meaning of the work or being a “semantic addition” in its own right) will make it possible to create a typology of intertextual references not according to the canon (as the literature experts advocate), but according to their relevance, that is, their semantic weight. Introducing the question of intertextuality as a subject of description in translation studies is not just a challenge for theorists of translation as it requires a theoretical consideration, but also for translators as it confronts them with new responsibilities. Moreover, in the long run it seems necessary to introduce a new category of a model (ideal) recipient-translator-scientist. The material used to exemplify the discussed phenomenon is the novel Wykluczeni (original title “Die Ausgesperrten” [“The excluded”]) by the Austrian nobel prize winner Elfriede Jelinek. The title of the novel implies a dialogue with another text and the only indicator (signal) of intertextuality is that on the level of narration a motif similar to that in the intertext is taken up.