CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Article Title

Translation Studies and Agamben's Theory of the Potential

Authors

Paolo Bartoloni, University of Sydney

Abstract

In his article, "Translation Studies and Agamben's Theory of the Potential," Paolo Bartoloni discusses the interstitial space of translation by drawing on literary and philosophical preoccupations, especially Giorgio Agamben's notion of "potentiality." The first part of the article is devolved to defining and discussing "potentiality" and the significance that it has for a general re-thinking of translation theory. Bartoloni moves on to ask what would happen if the focus of translation shifts from the final product, or from the relation between the original and the translation, to the process of translating, that is the middle ground, the in-betweenness where two distinct languages and cultures meet without superimposing one's own values onto the other. This section is occupied by a dialogue with a series of postcolonial texts, especially Pratt's Imperial Eyes and Bhabha's The Location of Culture. Bartoloni's main interest and purpose in this article is to point to a new hermeneutic and epistemological zone from which a new reflection on translation as well as literature and subjectivity can commence.

Recommended Citation

Bartoloni, Paolo. "Translation Studies and Agamben's Theory of the Potential." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 5.1 (2003): <http://dx.doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.1179>

This text has been blind peer reviewed by 2+1 experts in the field.

The above text, published by Purdue University Press ©Purdue University, has been downloaded 915 times as of 06/17/13. Note: the download counts of the journal's material are since Issue 9.1 (March 2007), since the journal's format in pdf (instead of in html 1999-2007).