Le mystère irréductible de l’oeuvre quand la figure du traducteur se démultiplie

Abstract

The inalienable mystery of literary works vs . multiple translators

At the age of computers and the development of communication science, the practice of literary translation benefits from significant support facilitated consulting of specialists and reference books, correcting assistance, division of labor, simultaneous editing within a short time in multiple languages, etc.. Nevertheless, progress carries perils: the speed and ease of communication makes us sometimes forget that beyond the information strictly speaking, a literary work finds its quality in specific depths. These require time to be seen and rendered: the time to identify metainformative pointers putting statements in perspective, and by the way assigning to pieces of information different functions; time to restore in the target text underlying signifying networks, and so on. Polycephalic translations as increasingly practiced in the “Blockbusters” publications are a worrying editorial practice. If they were to be used for great literature translation, it is feared that the result would be similar to the French version of the work of Bruno Schulz. The Cinnamon Shops, whose French version is a collection of the work by three translators, is in French very far from being the literary marvel that Polish readers can enjoy.