Lucian Blaga – the translation theorist

Carmen-Ecaterina Ciobâcă

doi:10.17684/i10a146en

Abstract

Our research focuses on the metatexts signed by Lucian Blaga as a translator. We prove that, due to the preference of Blaga for ethnocentric translation and his philosophy on poetic translation seen as interpretation, he is a translation theorist. The premise on which we base our research is represented by the remark belonging to Sean Cotter, according to which, in the case of Blaga, translation is a manner of challenging the linguistic policy imposed in Romania during the 1950s by the new regime. In this regard, we analyse the dichotomy margins vs centre in translation and the importance of the translation process in Romania during that decade. The pattern suggested by Lawrence Venuti in nowadays Translation Studies is reversed in the case of the translation subjected to our study: the translator abandons its “invisibility”, while ethnocentric translation becomes, in itself, a technique of resistance. The analysis of certain metatexts signed by Blaga proves that he had a modern philosophy on translation, which allows us to consider him a translation scholar avant la lettre. Thus, a careful analysis of metatexts signed by translators of that period would contribute to a greater visibility of trends existing in Romanian Translation Studies.

Highlights

Lucian Blaga – translator and translation thinkerBased on a recurrent and legitimate debate existing for a few years in Romania, namely the existence of a specific tradition in Romanian Translation Studies, this paper analyses an issue that was neglected by critics or has acquired a secondary place: the existence of a metadiscourse on translation belonging to translators themselves
Taking into account the theoretical and conceptual considerations we find in Faust și problema traducerilor [Faust and the Issue of Translations], and in other metatexts belonging to Blaga, we notice that the translator is a translation theorist, who has a specific approach to the translation process
Lucian Blaga – translation theorist avant la lettre In Faust și problema traducerilor [Faust and the Issue of Translations], Blaga – the translator defines the general principles of a translation methodology that preserves the specificity of the Romanian language, but his discourse is not limited to the translation of Faust: in the second part of his metatext, Blaga turns out to be a translation theorist

Summary

Introduction

Based on a recurrent and legitimate debate existing for a few years in Romania, namely the existence of a specific tradition in Romanian Translation Studies, this paper analyses an issue that was neglected by critics or has acquired a secondary place: the existence of a metadiscourse on translation belonging to translators themselves This metadiscourse is to be found in prefaces, notes of translators, papers published in literary or linguistic journals. We examine the historical and social context in which the translation of Faust is published and in which the translator reveals his ideology In this respect, we emphasize the features of the “golden age of Romanian translation”, as Sean Cotter describes the first decade of soviet occupation His/her translation approach is based on the understanding of the context and on an individual reflexion on translation

Centre vs margins in translation

Historical context: on the “golden age of translation” in Romania

Lucian Blaga: the translator abandons his invisible position

Lucian Blaga: ethnocentric translation becomes a technique of resistance

Lucian Blaga – translation theorist avant la lettre

Conclusions