Henri Meschonnic. Ethik und Politik des Übersetzens

Translating the power of words, not just their meaning - this is the task Henri Meschonnic sets himself when he re-translates the Bible from Hebrew. In this influential book, Meschonnic shows why this is a matter of ethics and politics and why the questions it raises concern everyone. Translation is a thoroughly ethical and political affair, for it is here that ideas and concepts with which language is thought come to light. It makes a difference whether translation is based on the model of the sign, on the categories of form and content, word and meaning, source language and target language, or whether the rhythm in the text, the speech movement in the writing, the physicality and vocalisation of the speech remain audible in the translation. For this, not only translation must be thought of in a new and different way, but language thinking as a whole. For Meschonnic, therefore, hermeneutic translation is replaced by a poetic practice of translation that listens to what a text does as a linguistic act. Thinking ethics and poetics together to change the politics of translation and all forms of the political in language - no more and no less is at stake.