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Translationand DiscursiveIdentity
Clem Robyns
Comparative Literature, K.U. Leuven
Any discourse (re)produces its own borderlines and thus defines its
own specificity with respect to other discourses. This implies that iden-
tity is always a dynamic concept, a fragile equilibrium. Translation
(in the traditional sense), as an explicit confrontation with "alien"
discourses, is only the most conspicuous instance of the continuous
conflicts which characterize the construction of identity. Although the
translation problem has already been formulated in these terms by cer-
tain scholars (e.g., Even-Zohar 1990),1 the monolithic and static con-
cepts of "text," "language," and "translation" itself that still dominate
PoeticsToday15:3 (Fall 1994). Copyright ? 1994 by The Porter Institute for Poetics
and Semiotics. CCC 0333-5372/94/$2.50.
406 Poetics Today 15:3
1. Translationand DiscursiveSelf-Definition
A discourse-or to use a term which also encompasses the individual
and institutional extratextual factors, a discursive practice-defines
itself in relation, or rather in opposition, to other discourses. (The
same goes for "cultures," which may be seen as large, systemic con-
glomerates of discursive practices.) If we define a discourse as a set
of messages viewed by their producers or receivers as linked because
they rely partly on a common set of norms, the awareness of such
common codes is possible only via confrontation with their absence,
namely, with other discourses.
Thus the dynamics of discursive self-definition imply continuous
contact between discourses. Moreover, those relations are never rela-
tions of equality since they never exist in an isolated form: the complex
web of relationships created by the superposition of political, eco-
nomic, scientific, artistic, literary, and other discourses makes a perfect
symbiosis between any two discursive practices seem hardly more than
an idealistic construct.
The unequal character of interdiscursive relations, that is to say, the
fact that the construction of identity is linked to unequal power rela-
tions, implies that identity construction can be seen as ideological: in
establishing its identity, a discursive practice constructs, reproduces, or
subverts social interests and power relations. Two remarks may clarify
this thesis. First, the very fact that, within a culture or discursive prac-
tice, there is an awareness of a common identity implies that there has
also been a striving toward preservation of this identity, toward self-
preservation by the discourse.2 If identity is constructed in opposition
to the alien, interferences imply loss of autonomy and thereby loss of
identity. Secondly, the shared conventions on which identity is based
2. In "The Notion of System," Dirk De Geest (1992) links the central/peripheral
position of systemic elements to their role in systemic unity: elements interfer-
ing with other systems tend to be relegated to a marginal position. De Geest also
proposes a Greimassian "square of normativity," which allows us to describe the
normative status of (imported) elements.
Robyns * Translationand Identity 407
6. For a similar argument, see Annie Brisset (1988a). However, see also Brisset
(1990), where a rather monolithic concept of "Quebecois culture" is articulated.
7. All translations of quotations are mine unless otherwise indicated.
410 Poetics Today 15:3
tree that has its roots in all the cultures of the world] (quoted in
Pecheur 1986b: 27 [my emphasis]), nor that Lanson (1923: 442) can
predict that "nos descendants . . . sauront retrouver le visage de la
France eternelle. Ayons confiance" [our descendants will be able to
recognize the face of eternal France. Let us have faith].
Let me note in passing that, as a consequence of the identification
language = nation = culture, even foreign Francophone texts can
function as "alien" elements. Indeed, in his article "Notre litterature
non pas lue, mais vue par les Francais," Paul Dirkx (1990) describes
the attitude of French textbooks and of the NouvelleRevuefran(aise crit-
ics toward Belgian Francophone literature. He detects similar strate-
gies of, on the one hand, occulting the foreign nationality of highly
valued texts and, on the other hand, emphasizing the "exotic," even
primitive, features of "typically Belgian" texts. In both cases the alien
texts are seen as contributions to "the admirable development of our
French literature."
worden, zou er goed aan doen zich niet vast te pinnen op de aanvaarding
van een enkele Cultuurtaalmet een grote c, met al het taalpuritanismeen
het culturele elitisme dat een dergelijkekeuze insluit.
[In order to promote in Europe a real linguisticcommunity,which coexists
with the many national languages whose right to exist doesn't have to be
proved anymore,it would be wise not to stickto the acceptanceof one single
language of Culture with a capitalC, with all the linguisticpuritanismand
culturalelitism that this choice implies.] (Frijhoff1988: 728)
This is the attitude prevailing in (though not really dominating) the
"progressive" part of today's Flemish-Dutch culture. (Actually, the first
basic option of this attitude is to stop separating "Flemish" and "Dutch"
culture.) In this case, specificity is not heavily emphasized (anymore),
but is seen from a more pragmatic viewpoint. Thus, when Frijhoff
draws a parallel in the following passage between the "corruption"
(the relativizing quotation marks are his) of Latin in the late Middle
Ages and the situation of Dutch today, he clearly doesn't consider
the Dutch language a value to be protected in its own right, distinct
from the requirements of efficient communication: "Wasdeze 'verbas-
tering' in zekere zin niet de prijs die moest betaald worden voor een
sterkere penetratie en de bevordering van een grotere bruikbaarheid
als internationale contact en cultuurtaal?" [Was not this "corruption"
in a certain sense the price that had to be paid for a stronger pene-
tration and a greater utility as a language of international contact
and culture?] (ibid.: 724). A trans-discursive doctrine doesn't explicitly
consider imported elements "other" or "alien," let alone "threaten-
ing." Both foreign discursive elements and those of "local production"
are seen as equal contributions to a common goal. To quote Frijhoff
again: "Is het Europese Amerikaans van thans, juist door onze idio-
men te besmetten, niet bezig zich de status van nieuwe lingua franca
te verwerven, tamelijk los van zijn Britse zowel als Amerikaanse oor-
sprong?" [Is today's European American, precisely by contaminating
our idioms, not on its way to attaining the status of a new lingua franca,
and this quite independently from its British as well as its American
origin?] (ibid.: 728).
Thus, in the Dutch magazine OnzeTaal (Our Language), J. J. Bakker
(1987: 73) gives, in a very detached manner, a list of "respectable rea-
sons" to allow the intrusion of foreign (especially English) words in
Dutch communication, such as the absence of an appropriate Dutch
term, the quest for variety, the need for a brief term, the imitation of a
successful metaphor, and so forth. The only (common) norm seems to
be efficient communication, and the only reprehensible way of dealing
with foreign terms is their gratuitous use-precisely because this blurs
understanding.
Often, such an attitude is a reaction against what is seen as "unfruit-
Robyns * Translationand Identity 419
11. See, for instance, Arno Schrauwers (1986: 66), in Onze Taal, and the almost
immediate rebuttal by A. J. Onstenk (1986: 130-31), who exposes the internal
contradictions of purist discourse.
12. For instance, in the United States, E. D. Hirsch has attempted to establish an
officially sanctioned American canon of "cultural literacy." In this case, the threat
to literate discourse posed by the mass media is reinforced by the threat to white
intellectual dominance posed by the (belated and already eroding) legitimation of
ethnic minority discourses.
13. For a more extended discussion of intellectuals' defensive reactions toward
mass-media culture, see Robyns (1991).
14. I prefer the term "defective" to "weak" or "dependent," which Even-Zohar
currently uses.
Robyns * Translationand Identity 421
15. For a more detailed study of translation strategies in this period, see Robyns
(1990).
424 Poetics Today 15:3
16. A similar diagnosis has been made by Roda P. Roberts (1988) and by Dirk
Delabastita (1991).
426 Poetics Today 15:3
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