Abstract: With Die Augabe des Übersetzers(1923) Walter Benjamin challenges a long critical tradition that saw the translation of poetical texts as being inherently flawed because of the inevitable uncoupling of form and content brought about by the translational act. In this seminal text he argues that it is only through translation that these texts can aspire to live on (fortleben). Translation thus is not a problem, but the solution. In this talk I shall explore how Benjamin makes use of the Lurianic interpretation of the Kabbalah to conceptualize translation as tikkun olam, that is, a series of acts that seek to repair the world by means of correct practices, which, in the case of literary texts, would take the form of a never-ending process of translation across different languages, cultures and times. An understanding of the conceptual grounding of Benjamin’s thought may prove instrumental not only in better comprehending his theory of translation, but also in eliciting important insights on the role and importance of translation to the survival of literary works of art.

https://greenes.institute/confprogramme.php