Ian Morgan

The Potentiation of Meaning Through Translative Reading: Poetic Translation and the Case of Gottfried Benn Ian Morgan

Since its inception, the theory of literary translation has been plagued by a disregard of the comprehensive aspect of the translation process. This development throughout the history of translation has led to considerable disagreements and colliding notions regarding the purposes of theory, the parameters of translation criticism, and the question of untranslatability. In this book, the concept of a 'translative reading' - the engagement with a poetic text with the purpose of translation - is explored and its structure revealed. In order to demonstrate the practical value of this theory, three poems by German expressionist poet Gottfried Benn (1886 - 1956) are examined on the basis of such a translative reading.