t o p n o t e f o r w a r d

FROM THERE TO HERE (within the 'literal' but beyond the letter?) Conventionally, translation reconciles difference and conceals misunderstanding. It does this by encouraging the application of an analogic system, an elaborate metaphor, in which a geography is established. The translator and her readers are 'here' using 'our' language 'within' 'our' culture. The skilled, intrepid, scholarly translator (perhaps also an established writer), makes the far journey to 'there' where she learns more of 'their' language from within 'their' literary culture and translates, brings back, the essentials of a (poetic) text into 'our' linguistic territory. <01/25>