| Abstrakt: |
Proposing a model through which to document Romantic translation that is focused on recovering the translators who organised its processes, the present article coordinates two recently prominent concepts; that is, sociability and performativity. It argues that these two terms should be studied in tandem, and that they require close attention to concrete material and technological practices and contexts of mediation in order to become fully tractable. The German-English historical novel Walladmor (1823–1824) is examined as a case study to demonstrate the potential of this article's proposals for reading Romantic translation. This text initially appears as a pseudotranslation, and is such a key example of that mode that it was the first pseudotranslation to be branded as such; however, it soon morphs into a pseudo-backtranslation upon its translation into its pseudo-original language, revealing layers of performativity and sociability in this involuted interlinguistic movement. Building on this case, the article offers a detailed discussion of sociability and performativity in Romantic contexts and beyond, showing that the presumption all Romantic translation is service translation ignores its potential as a wellspring of creativity and freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
