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Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Messianic Betrayal


a)"Translation is messianic"

b)"Translation is betrayal"

Which is it?

Yes.

Eugene Peterson, in "Eat This Book," is behind both quotes; and I am behind him suggesting they are both right.

"A" is actually a quote Peterson includes from Franz Rosenzweig: "Every translation is a messianic act, which brings redemption nearer." (p.119) ..The quote in context here...

"B," in context:
"An old canard that sooner or later gets introduced into discussions of translation is 'You, a translator? Traitor!' Translation is betrayal. All translation is inherently mistranslation. Each language is unique."


Viola! All translation is both messianic and betrayal.

Kind of like life.

In fact, life is translation.

3 comments:

  1. Dave: Very nice! This really puts it well and succinctly. I'm going to have to write it down.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beggarman:

    awesome!

    dave

    ReplyDelete

Hey, thanks for engaging the conversation!