The post-Babel condition: Paul Ricoeur’s translator’s task

Abstract

ABSTRACT Paul Ricoeur’s ethics of translation has recently inspired a number of authors in Translation Studies. In this article, I argue that the entire scope and potential impact of Ricoeur’s thought on translation theory and practice can only be fully grasped when considering his critical dialogue with previous traditions of thought. This dialogue manifests itself in two rereadings that Ricoeur performs throughout On Translation: Firstly, of the myth of Babel and secondly, of Walter Benjamin’s essay ‘The translator’s task.’ In the first part of this article, I retrace how Ricoeur rejects the traditional idea of Babel as a catastrophic event and instead argues for an understanding of multiplicity as a gift, the ‘human condition’ as it ought to be. In the second part, I explore how Ricoeur, based on this rereading of the Babel narrative, engages with Walter Benjamin’s essay. I argue that it is essentially through a reinterpretation of Antoine Berman’s reading of Benjamin that Ricoeur rearticulates the translator’s task in ethical terms. While this particular constellation between Benjamin and Berman has received little attention, my claim is that it is actually essential for Ricoeur’s idea of translation as ‘linguistic hospitality’ and its potential relevance for Translation Studies.