Another Look at Revision in Literary Translation

Abstract

This chapter questions the binary projection of literary revision as either self-revision or other-revision. The term ‘revision’ and its two sub-categories are scrutinized and the relationship between these activities is reconsidered. The aim is to investigate whether existing theory speaks to practice in literary revision. We hypothesize that in literary translation there are different combinations of self- and other-revision by translators, revisers and other agents such as authors, editors and proofreaders. E-mail correspondence between the agents involved in the translation, revision and editing of three works of fiction, all commissioned by one publisher and translated from Afrikaans into English, was qualitatively analysed in order to establish the extent to which they are indicative of self- or other-revision, or a combination of the two. The analysis revealed a complex loop of revision processes that seems to be dictated by the sociology at work in this particular translation process. The terms ‘self-revision’ and ‘other-revision’ should therefore be seen as dimensions of a particular sociologically shaped process in which the agents involved in the production of a literary translation find themselves. A repackaging of the terms ‘editing’ and ‘revision’ is proposed on the basis of our data-driven investigation.