On the Translation of Literature as a Human Activity par Excellence

Ethical Implications for Literary Machine Translation

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-2096.2020.22047

Keywords:

ethics, literary translation, machine translation, art, re-creation, authorship

Abstract

The quality of state-of-the-art machine translation systems have prompted a number of scholars to tap into the readiness of such systems for “literary” translation. However, studies on literary machine translation have not overtly stated what they consider as literature and mistakenly assume that literary translation is a matter of transferring meaning and/or form from one language into another. By approaching literature as art and literary translation as an artistic work of re-creation, we counterpoint, in this article, the notion that literary machine translation can be seen as an indisputable evolution within translation technology. Ethical concerns may well be utilitarian in studies to date, but by advocating for a deontological approach, we consider that aesthetical value, cultural mediation (which includes the use of paratexts), and authorship of literary translation (should) rank higher in our ethical assessments of the feasibility and actual contributions of literary machine translation.

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Author Biographies

Cynthia Beatrice Costa, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU), Uberlândia, Minas Gerais / Brasil

Cynthia Beatrice Costa is a professor at Universidade Federal de Uberlandia (UFU), Brazil. She holds a master’s degree in Comparative Literature by Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP), Brazil, and a doctorate degree in Translation Studies by Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFSC), Brazil. She is a permanent member of the Postgraduate Program in Liteary Studies (PPLET/UFU) and of the Postgraduate Program in Translation Studies (PGET/UFSC).

Igor A. Lourenço da Silva, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (UFU), Uberlândia, Minas Gerais / Brasil

Igor A. Lourenço da Silva is an assistant professor at Universidade Federal de Uberlandia (UFU), Brazil. He holds a master’s and PhD degree in Linguistics from Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil. His main fields of research comprise translation expertise and human-computer interaction. He is an associate member of LETRA/UFMG (Laboratory for Experimentation in Translation) and permanent member of the Graduate Program in Linguistics (PosLin) at UFMG.

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Published

2020-12-22

How to Cite

Costa, C. B., & Silva, I. A. L. da. (2020). On the Translation of Literature as a Human Activity par Excellence: Ethical Implications for Literary Machine Translation. Aletria: Revista De Estudos De Literatura, 30(4), 225–248. https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-2096.2020.22047

Issue

Vol. 30 No. 4 (2020): Ética na Tradução Literária

Section

Dossier – Ethics in literary translation

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Copyright (c) 2020 Cynthia Beatrice Costa, Igor A. Lourenço da Silva (Autor)

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