How to translate Marx
Delistathi, C. 2023. How to translate Marx. Nothing Happened: Translation Studies before James Holmes. UCL, London 09 - 10 Nov 2023
Delistathi, C. 2023. How to translate Marx. Nothing Happened: Translation Studies before James Holmes. UCL, London 09 - 10 Nov 2023
| Title | How to translate Marx |
|---|---|
| Authors | Delistathi, C. |
| Type | Conference paper |
| Abstract | How should Marxist theoretical texts be translated? Who should be allowed to translate them and with what competencies? What translation principles should they follow? This paper responds to the conference theme “close readings of writings on translation from ancient times to the mid-20th century” by discussing debates about translation and the role of translators within the Greek Marxist-oriented left from the early to mid-20th century. The paper will examine translation reviews and reflections on translations published in periodicals by the Communist Party of Greece and other Marxist-oriented entities in that period. Each claimed to have the correct interpretation of Marxism and competed for ideological domination in the Greek labour movement. During the 1920s and 1930s, real and imaginary translation errors in meaning transfer were interpreted as deliberate distortions by rivals, and linguistic choices at a time of linguistic uncertainty in Greece could be seen as markers of influence by the bourgeoisie. Scrupulous translators should make the translation process transparent, declare their level of competence in the SL, and have excellent command of the demotic version of the TL. By the 1950s, the method to translate had become more precise, and both word-for-word and free translation were marginalised in favour of staying as close to the original as possible. By placing these debates within broader political concerns for discourse control and ideological domination, the paper will show the importance of these debates in shaping the translation of Marxist texts, and in anticipating later debates which formed the field of Translation Studies. |
| Keywords | Translation of Marxism, Marxism and Greece, translator work practices, processes of knowledge validation, history of knowledge, translation process, collaborative translation, institutional translation |
| Year | 2023 |
| Conference | Nothing Happened: Translation Studies before James Holmes |
| Publication dates | |
| Published | 2023 |