Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects
Department
English
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
Although Surrealist writing has literary merit, Surrealist texts were written as revolutionary tracts meant to undermine the social order. Yet the politically radical aspects of the movement are no longer taken very seriously. At least one contributing factor to the current impotence of Surrealism is the approach taken in the translation of Surrealist texts. Many translators have presented Surrealist texts as they would traditionally present any literary document. However, Walter Benjamin’s writings on translation, in particular his essay “The Task of the Translator,” provide a novel conception of translation, one which can produce linguistically radical texts. I will argue that the Benjaminian approach to translating Surrealism promises to reinvigorate Surrealism for modern readers.
Advisor(s) or Committee Chair
Dr. Adrian Switzer
Disciplines
Comparative and Historical Linguistics | French and Francophone Literature | Philosophy of Language | Reading and Language
Recommended Citation
Young, Kyle, "Reviving the Surrealist Revolt: A Retracing of Surrealism’s History and a Reimagining of its Future in Translation" (2012). Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects. Paper 364.
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/stu_hon_theses/364
Included in
Comparative and Historical Linguistics Commons, French and Francophone Literature Commons, Philosophy of Language Commons, Reading and Language Commons