lntroduction: The Quest for the Perfect Translation

Abstract

In thinking about the various essays and articles included in this volume, l have been tempted to call this preface by several different names. First l thought of entitling it "Armchair Ruminations on the Art of Translation" in honor of those English philosophers who engaged in "armchair linguistics" in the 1950s. Then, to paraphrase Eliot, l came up with "To Criticize the (Translation) Critic", since much of what appears in this volume is, in one way or another, concerned with the criticism of translations. Finally, however, it seemed to me that the best title was "The Quest for the Perfect Translation," which corresponds roughly to "The Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow." The titles are not merely facetious, as will become clear in the course of the following remarks. Translation theorists, translators and translation critics are all actively engaged on a spiritual and intellectual adventure, in which the Holy Grail that they are seeking is knowledge, as precious as the golden fleece and as maddeningly impossible to discover as the philosopher's stones.