Postface. Questions de frontière, entre traduction et pseudo-traduction

Abstract

Since the 1980s, the concept of pseudotranslation has been shared by two disciplines, literary studies and translation studies: both select in it those semantic features that match best their respective subjects. However, both ways to approach pseudotranslation do not account enough for the complex relations between the concepts of pseudotranslation and translation proper: the former derives from the latter but also continues to depend on it. Correlatively, one should not forget to further explore the discursive uses of pseudo-translation, which may indeed apply to textual units of lower rank (citations, notes), and invest other categories of discourse (dialogue, metanarrative commentary, character, language code, etc.). Not only, as shown in particular by contemporary literature, is it necessary to count both translation and pseudotranslation among the numerous techniques designed to represent languages and their relations; the study of such complex literary works should encourage translation studies to further open its scope for the historical analysis of literary discourse: by integrating the study of translations and pseudotranslations, by focusing on the poetics that steer the interaction between both.