René Lemieux

A deconstruction of equivalence in translation: Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Dekalog

In Dekalog – jeden, the first episode of Krzysztof Kieślowski’s miniseries, the relation between a scientific knowledge based on “calculation” and a religious faith governed by the “incalculable” is depicted through the tragic death of the son of the main character, a linguistics professor with an interest in translation and computers. In a contemporary take on the first commandment of Mosaic law, Kieślowski seems to be exploring the relation between that which lends itself to relational comparison (the calculable or measurable, the possibility of equivalence, rational thought etc.), on the one hand, and that which refuses relational logic (the incalculable and immeasurable, incongruence, irrationality), on the other. I propose that in Kieślowski’s representation of the tension between science and faith, what emerges is in fact a reflection on “translatability,” a fable that has implications for current translation theories.

Keywords: Translation Studies, fiction, Polish cinema, Krzysztof Kieślowski, deconstruction, equivalence

Biography

René Lemieux is a Doctoral Candidate in Semiology at the Université du Québec à Montréal and Part-time Instructor in the Department of French Studies at Concordia University. He holds an MA in Political Science from the Université du Québec à Montréal and a BA in Social Sciences from the University of Ottawa. He was co-director with Pier-Pascale Boulanger of the “Translating the Social Sciences and Humanities” workshop at Concordia University. His research explores connections between translation, philosophy, and the translation of texts in the Social Sciences and Humanities. He has also studied translators who translate other translators’ reflections on translation.