Klaus Kaindl

The remaking of the translator’s reality: The role of fiction in Translation Studies

According to Ricoeur, fiction “has the power to ‘remake’ reality.” This talk explores the multiple and – at first sight – contradictory interactions between translation fiction and theory, as well as the wide and varied potential of literary and filmic narratives for the field of Translation Studies. Considering Gerrig’s notion of fictional works as simulations of the social world, I’ll start by outlining the nature of such simulations and their respective purposes. After looking into the “realistic” dimension of fiction I will then turn to the “fictional” dimension of translation theory. This diagonal juxtaposition will give us insight into the structure, relation and function of these two – generally perceived as incommensurable – dimensions. Finally, the concluding synthesis will be an attempt to show how an integrated approach of fiction and science can contribute to a greater understanding of translatorial phenomena.

Keywords: fictional translators, fiction as simulation, fictional grounds of theory, epistemological relation between fiction and science

Biography

Klaus Kaindl is an Associate Professor of Translation Studies at the Center for Translation Studies at the University of Vienna. He organized the first Transfiction conference at the University of Vienna, participated in the second conference at Tel Aviv University, and recently co-edited selected papers from the Vienna conference in book form: Transfiction. Research into the Realities of Translation Fiction (Kaindl and Spitzl 2014). He is an eminent scholar whose research interests range from the translation of opera and popular music, to the translation of comics and the fictionalization of translators and interpreters. He has published several books and 60 papers, and co-edited several volumes.