ABSTRACT

This article critically examines the oft-cited historical narrative of Translation Studies that situates its birth in the post-war West. This narrative is referred to as the mythistory of Translation Studies, as its validity derives more from its circulation than from a knowledge of other traditions. The narrative in its various iterations is first analysed as an imperial myth, positing a unitary point of origin, following a developmental trajectory, and presenting its local history as world history. The article then demonstrates the ways in which this Western mythistory contributes to the consolidation of a neocolonial geo-politics of the field, as reflected in the leading Anglophone anthologies, which present Western theory as universal while erasing or delegitimizing knowledge from the global South. The Western mythistory of the field is then provincialised by comparing it to the systematic and sustained interest in translation that arose in the Soviet Union in the nineteen twenties and thirties. This critical treatment of the mythistory is meant to open a space for heterogeneity in the field and to ensure that attempts to enlarge the field are not merely expansions.

摘要

本文严格地考察了翻译研究常被引用的历史叙事，该叙事以其在战后西方的诞生为前提。这种叙述被称为神话之所以要研究翻译学，是因为它的有效性更多地是来自其发行量，而不是来自于其他传统知识。首先将其各种叙述中的叙述作为帝国神话进行分析，在发展轨迹的基础上确立统一的原点，并将其局部历史呈现为世界历史。然后，本文论证了西方神话传说在巩固该领域的新殖民地缘政治中所起的作用，这在主要的英语选集中得到了反映，该选集将西方理论呈现为普遍性，同时从全球南方消灭或贬低了知识。然后，将该领域的西方神话与19世纪20到30年代在苏联引起的对翻译的系统性和持续性兴趣进行比较，从而对其进行地方化。