Thursday, August 05, 2004
(10:05 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
Almost Forgot: Thursday Translation Attempt
In my sickness, I almost forgot to do this. I'm pretty much better now, and to convince myself that I did something other than sleep today, I decided to try my hand at reading Donner la mort. Reading the early Derrida seems like an elaborate form of suicide at this time, but in his current "later" period, he has mellowed out considerably. So here's a passage, chosen pretty much at random:D’une part, cette histoire de la responsabilité se confond avec une histoire de la religion. Or il est toujours risqué d’avouer une histoire de la responsabilité: être responsible, être libre ou capable de décider, pense-t-on souvent à partir d’une analyse du concept même de responsabilité, de liberté ou de decision, cela ne doit pas être une possiblité acquise, conditionnée ou conditionnelle. Même s’il y a inconstestablement une histoire de la liberté ou de la responsibilité, une telle historicité, pense-t-on, doit rester extrinsèque.My translation:
On the one hand, this history of responsibility is mixed up with a history of religion. Now it is always risky to confess a history of responsibility: to be responsible, to be free or capable of deciding--one often thinks from an analysis of the concept itself of responsibility, of liberty or of decision--must not be an acquired, conditioned, or conditional possibility. Even if there is incontestably a history of liberty or of responsibility, such a history, one thinks, must remain extrinsic.The "professional" translation by David Willis (who is often thought to be something of a douche-bag for translating "donner la mort" as "the gift of death"):
On the one hand, the history of responsibility is tied to a history of religion. But there is always a risk in acknowledging a history of responsibility. It is often thought, on the basis of an analysis of the very concepts of responsibility, freedom, or deciison, that to be responsible, free, or capable of deciding cannot be something that is acquired, something conditioned or conditional. Even if there is undeniably a history of freedom or responsibility, such a historicity, it is thought, must remain extrinsic.I'll admit that after reading the professional translation, I corrected my original (faulty) translation of "à partir de" as "on beginning from" to merely "from." My translation seems to be more "literal," but I can't figure out why most of the deviations from literalism that he made were necessary -- they seem like matters of taste. Ah, well. Such is life, as the French say.
