Translation and its fictions: pseudotranslation and partial cultural translation in focus

ABSTRACT

This article asks whether and what differences exist between the notions of pseudotranslation and partial cultural translation. Although they are both ultimately untranslated texts, their respective definitions acknowledge the possibility that each category may be taken as a translation. To answer its research question, the article examines the distinctive features of pseudotranslation and partial cultural translation across three primary sources that showcase traits common to both categories. First, the analysis sets these two notions against the backdrop of a fictional subtext which informs translation theory, demonstrating how pseudotranslation and partial cultural translation feed into this subtext. It then goes on to investigate the function of paratexts and culture-specific items in the three primary sources. Finally, the article identifies the different intentions underpinning pseudotranslation and partial cultural translation: while the former explicitly aims to be perceived as a translation, the latter is not written to be consumed as a translated text.

KEYWORDS:

• pseudotranslation
• partial cultural translation
• fictions of translation
• paratexts
• culture-specific items

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Klaudy and Heltai (2020, 44) refer to the concept of ‘textless back translation’ defined by Tu and Li (2017, 1) as ‘the kind of back translation in which the translator retranslates China-themed works written in English […] back into Chinese’.

2. By West, Baer (2020, 235) means ‘a cultural construct promoted by the global North’.

3. Deganutti has provided a comprehensive analysis of translational mimesis procedures, including latent multilingual strategies in literature, defining them as ‘the presence of other languages in a text even when they are not immediately perceptible’ (2022, 2).

Additional information

Funding

The research conducted in this publication was funded by the Irish Research Council under grant number GOIPG/2022/1280.

Notes on contributors

Andrea Bergantino

Andrea Bergantino is a PhD candidate at the Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation, Trinity College Dublin. His research is concerned with transfiction, exploring fictional representations of translation and literary portrayals of translators primarily in contemporary Italian literature. Other research interests include Translator Studies and literary translingualism. His research project has been awarded the 2022 Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship.