What are You Trying to Say?:

World Literature and the Frustration of Translation

Authors

  • Josh McMahon

Keywords:

Translation, World Literature, Identity, Alterity, Marginalisation

Abstract

At the heart of World Literature lies a tension between translation and the texts’ position in the world. This essay argues that whilst translation dichotomously offers a teleological understanding of texts, it fails to grapple with the deep cultural milieus that manufacture texts. Thus, whilst translation offers an awareness of the text, it further de-centralises the text and author. Translation further emphasises the power literary institutions have over texts written from the fringes. Finally, this essay grapples with the dialectic between texts drawing meaning from the centre, and texts that are written from the fringes acquiring meaning in the centre. This centre is an institutional figment, often seen to be the European literary canon.

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Author Biography

Josh McMahon

Josh McMahon completed his Masters of English Studies at the University of Sydney. His thesis focused on scales of readership and the manner in which the nation infers scale upon texts. His academic areas of interest include Australian Literature, World Literatures, Literary institutions and Literary awards. McMahon will begin his PhD at the University of Sydney with a focus on Planetary Modernisms and the postmodern turn in late 2017.

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Published

2021-11-03

How to Cite

McMahon, J. (2021). What are You Trying to Say?:: World Literature and the Frustration of Translation. Sanglap: Journal of Literary and Cultural Inquiry, 4(1), 24–30. Retrieved from https://sanglap-journal.in/index.php/sanglap/article/view/85

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2017): Why World Literature?

Section

Articles