La traduzione come spazio di gioco

Barbara Ivancic, Università di Bologna

barbara.ivancic(at)unibo.it

Abstract: The paper suggests thinking translation in terms of Spielraum, i.e. as play space as well as scope, considering both the literary as well as the figurative meaning of the German term. In order to develop this thesis, we refer to the concept of Spielraum as theorized by Maurice Merleau-Ponty and relate it to the concept of Spracherleben, the lived experience of language, as theorized by Brigitta Busch.

Following up on this line of reasoning, the second part of the paper focuses on the biographies of a few translators who translated literary texts into their non-mother tongue, challenging a traditional and still widespread idea of obligatory directionality in the translation process, claiming that translators should only translate into their own mother tongue. The case of these translators exemplifies the thesis of translation as Spielraum.