UCL Discovery

Abstract

Chapter One reads equivalence as equality in status and concludes that translations can never be equivalent to their originals. This is a good thing, because it creates room for translation to reflect on itself, which is the topic of Chapter Two. A practical consequence of the translator occupying a subject position in a translation is explored in Chapter Three, which offers a model to analyse translators' attitudes to what they translate. Chapters Four and Five are more exploratory. One sketches an approach to translation that does not invoke the notion of transformation. The other proposes a sociology of translation based on Niklas Luhmann's social systems theory, which would deny translators a place in the translation system. The final chapter engages with the cross-cultural study of translation and argues that the discipline needs to be thick to do the job well.