University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014 2013 Towards a Neopragmatist Understanding of Translation: A Cross-Disciplinary and Cross- Medial Survey Steffani Scheer University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons, and the Philosophy of Language Commons Scheer, Steffani, "Towards a Neopragmatist Understanding of Translation: A Cross-Disciplinary and Cross-Medial Survey" (2013). Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014. 1082. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/theses/1082 This thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TOWARDS A NEOPRAGMATIST UNDERSTANDING OF TRANSLATION: A CROSS-DISCIPLINARY AND CROSS-MEDIAL SURVEY A Thesis Presented by STEFFANI SCHEER To be submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS May 2013 Comparative Literature Translation Studies TOWARDS A NEOPRAGMATIST UNDERSTANDING OF TRANSLATION: A CROSS-DISCIPLINARY AND CROSS-MEDIAL SURVEY A Thesis Presented by STEFFANI SCHEER Approved as to style and content by: _______________________________ Maria Tymoczko, Chair _______________________________ Nalini Bhushan, Member _______________________________ Jim Hicks, Member _______________________________ Moira Inghilleri, Member _______________________________ David Lenson, Program Director _______________________________ William Moebius, Department Head Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures DEDICATION For Mike By your side I have learned to think, to love, and to live Thank you ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Maria Tymoczko, my thesis adviser, for her tremendous dedication and encouragement. She has been a true teacher to me, in the widest sense of the word, having enriched my ability to think flexibly, fearlessly, honestly, and self-critically. I also would like to thank Jim Hicks, who has inspired me to share in his steady commitment to exploring, refining, and expressing ideas in a style that is both original and convincing. Thanks to Moira Inghilleri for her enthusiastic support, scrupulous readings and constructive feedback, and to Nalini Bhushan for graciously agreeing to join my committee and providing me with valuable research suggestions for my philosophical arguments. Thank you to Liz Medendorp, Lakmali Jayasinghe and the graduate students at UMass for their friendship and exchange of ideas. I would like to thank my family for their help and their confidence in me. I extend my deepest gratitude to my parents, Hedy and Heimo, for their practical wisdom, unwavering support, and exceptional kindness. Prior to any written work, any committee meetings, any revisions, and any reevaluations, I first tested almost all of my ideas against my partner, Mike Kelley. This thesis is dedicated to you. iv ABSTRACT TOWARDS A NEOPRAGMATIST UNDERSTANDING OF TRANSLATION: A CROSS-DISCIPLINARY AND CROSS-MEDIAL SURVEY MAY 2013 STEFFANI SCHEER, B.A., MCGILL UNIVERSITY M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Maria Tymoczko Maria Tymoczko (2005) highlights four research trajectories that are likely to be at the forefront of translation studies in coming decades: the attempt to define translation, the internationalization of translation, the impact of technology and globalization on translation theory, and the contextualization of translation studies relative to other areas of academic inquiry. The goal of this thesis is to contribute to the first research trajectory. I hope to enrich current developments in translation studies by offering a new way of conceptualizing translation based upon pragmatist philosophy and its particular approach to language and epistemology. Specifically I build upon certain passages from the works of the contemporary neopragmatist philosopher Richard Rorty (1979; 1989; 1998; 1999) in order to develop a neopragmatist understanding of translation. I demonstrate the cross-disciplinary applicability of a neopragmatist understanding of translation, focusing in particular on visual art, popular science, and political history. I also demonstrate how the neopragmatist framework can be of use in constructing a theory of intersemiotic translation, by means of three case studies of translation between different media. The approach I develop offers a robust philosophical grounding for expanding our conceptualization of translation. Such an approach is motivated by recent research in translation studies highlighting the need for an expanded definition of translation in light of the following issues: traditional definitions of translation tend to be based upon Western views, thus neglecting the diverse international conceptions of translation and contributing to the cultural hegemony of v the West; the term “translation” is used in more contexts than traditional definitions would predict; translation is not simply an operation between texts, but can also occur across semiotic systems; translation is not a method of relaying messages across languages through the mediation of a neutral translator, but is instead a complex interface in which a network of cultural, political, socio-historical, communicative, creative, and interpretative factors are intertwined. A neopragmatist framework is useful for building an understanding of translation that responds to the above issues, helping scholars to refine an adequately descriptive and generalized theory of translation. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ v LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Historical Context ........................................................................................... 1 1.2 Outline of the Thesis ....................................................................................... 4 2. A NEOPRAGMATIST FRAMEWORK ............................................................... 8 2.1 Classical Pragmatism ...................................................................................... 8 2.2 Contemporary Pragmatism ........................................................................... 11 2.2.1 Antiessentialism ............................................................................ 11 2.2.2 Antirepresentational View of Language ....................................... 12 2.2.3 Epistemological Antifoundationalism .......................................... 13 2.3 A Neopragmatist Framework for Understanding Translation ...................... 15 3. THE TRANSLATION OF ART .......................................................................... 22 3.1 A Brief History of Ekphrasis ........................................................................ 22 3.2 Ekphrasis as Translation ............................................................................... 26 3.2.1 The Use of “Translation” in Ekphrastic Discourse ....................... 27 3.2.2 Theoretical Similarities to Translation Studies ............................. 27 3.2.3 Applicable Terminology from Translation Studies ...................... 28 3.2.4 A Neopragmatist Approach to Ekphrasis as Translation .............. 29 3.3 A Case Study of Ekphrasis from a Neopragmatist Perspective of Translation .............................................................................................. 31 3.4 Ekphrasis, Indeterminacy, and the Emergence of Meaning .......................... 38 3.5 Implications .................................................................................................. 42 4. THE TRANSLATION OF SCIENCE ................................................................. 45 4.1 Scientific Knowledge .................................................................................... 45 4.2 Popularizations as Translations ..................................................................... 49 4.2.1 The Use of “Translation” in Popularization Discourse ................. 50 4.2.2 Applicable Theories from Translation Studies ............................. 50 4.2.3 A Neopragmatist Approach to Popularizations as Translations ... 52 vii 4.3 A Case of Scientific Popularization from a Neopragmatist Perspective of Translation .............................................................................................. 54 4.3.1 Source Texts ................................................................................. 54 4.3.2 The Language of Popularizations ................................................. 56 4.3.3 Audiovisual Media in Popularizations .......................................... 59 4.4 A Conflict of Interest .................................................................................... 60 4.4.1 Conflicting Facts ........................................................................... 61 4.4.2