The Multidimensionality of Translational Hermeneutics. Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives

Abstract

The main research questions that this monograph tries to address can be formulated in the following way: 1) “What are the main aspects that define translational hermeneutics as a sub-discipline of translation studies?”; 2) “How is translation approached in the hermeneutic tradition of contemporary philosophy?”; 3) “How can the main tenets of the hermeneutic theory of translation as delineated by Radegundis Stolze be deployed to devise theoretical models of specialized translation competence?”; 4) “What is the relationship between translational hermeneutics and cognitive science?”; 5) “Can the hermeneutic approach to translation teaching, as suggested by Radegundis Stolze, be regarded as effective and worth pursuing?”; 6) “How can literary translations be approached from the perspective of translational hermeneutics?”. All the questions revolve around the intention to demonstrate that translational hermeneutics, often criticised for the lack of any valid methodological grounding, could be considered a reliable theoretical and methodological framework by means of which translation scholars could address the questions which have been driving the quests behind the studies they have conducted. This monograph follows the Gadamerian tradition of translationality. The first chapter provides a discussion of the philosopher’s views on the question of translation. The successive chapters of the monograph resort to Radegundis Stolze’s hermeneutic theory of translation, which is based, inter alia, on Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics. The last chapter deploys the main categories of Gadamerian philosophy of language in order to analyse a literary translation. This way the monograph comes full circle by showing not only how translation was seen and interpreted by one of the best known representatives of the hermeneutic tradition within contemporary philosophy, but also how Gadamerian views on translation were continued by Radegundis Stolze and how they can be used today to analyse and interpret translation products.