Překládání potenciální literatury a potenciální vlastnosti překladu

• Published in: Bohemica litteraria Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 5 - 20
• Main Author: Šmídová, Anna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Czech; English
• Published: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství 01-07-2020; Masaryk University Press; Masaryk University, Brno
• Subjects: Czech Literature; Dílna potenciální literatury; Dílna potenciálního překladu; Language and Literature Studies; OuLiPo; OuTransPo; Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle; překlad; Studies of Literature; translation; OuLiPo; Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle; Workshop of potential literature; OuTransPo; Workshop of potential translation
• ISSN: 1213-2144; 2336-4394
• DOI: 10.5817/bl2020-1-1

This study aims to open a reflection on the problems connected to the translation of potential literature. Potential literature is a term used in the context of the Workshop of Potential Literature (OuLiPo), a French experimental group established in 1960 in order to interconnect literature and mathematics. It is characteristic of OuLiPo to create texts with the aid of a "contrainte", a mostly formal restriction applied during the creative process, limiting the set of potential outcomes. These specific creative methods bring a higher level of difficulty for the translator and raise the question of "untranslatability". The paper proposes several alternative concepts of a "translation" in order to get past this idea of impossibility. Similar properties of both potential literature and translation as creative processes are also discussed. This brings new light on their connection and enables us to characterize a translator of potential literature as one of the authors of the text.