德里达晚年翻译思想发生过转变吗?——从《何谓“确当的”翻译》一文谈起

Did Derrida Revise His Translation Theory?——Rereading Derrida's "What Is a 'Relevant' Translation"

有学者指出,德里达晚年翻译思想发生了重大的转变,其《何谓"确当的"翻译》一文便是佐证。然而,德里达并没有将所谓"‘确当的’翻译"视为翻译的标准或本质。围绕莎士比亚的《威尼斯商人》中"When mercy seasons justice"(当慈悲调剂着公道)等的翻译,德里达旨在以隐喻的方式阐述翻译中对原文的"忠实"是个陷阱,提出一切可译又不可译的悖论以及翻译即改写等观点。

It has been postulated that Jacques Derrida revised his translation theory in his later years, which could be supported by his lecture entitled ＂What Is a ‘Relevant＇ Translation？＂ This is a misreading of Derrida, for he does not view the so-called ＂ ‘ relevant＇ translation＂ as the standard or essence of translation. Through a discussion on the translation of such sentences as ＂When mercy seasons justice＂ in Shakespeare＇ s The Merchant of Venice, Derrida simply means to illustrate metaphorically his position that ＂fidelity to the original ＂ in translation is a trap, that nothing is translatable or untranslatable and that translation is a new writing or rewriting. Therefore, he did not revise his translation theory at all.