Echoes of Absence. Regarding Ferdinand de Saussure’s Translation of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon

Abstract

The article addresses Ferdinand de Saussure’s translation into French of Aeschylus’ tragedy, Agamemnon. Through the comparison with other French translations, it examines the double mechanism of condensation- -dissemination, which allows the translator to produce a particularly vivid version of the playwright’s poetic images. In order to achieve a high-quality translation, Saussure embraces the author’s literary intention, which entails taking into account two types of condensation-dissemination: that of present traits and that of absent traits. The latter are evoked by the selected syntagmatic combinations. The process developed by Saussure is especially interesting due to the convergence of his linguistic theory, his style of writing, and his translating and pedagogical activity. For this reason, the article also analyzes the didactics of the professor-translator, on the basis of two time periods that can be related to two translation theories: the theory of meaning and skopos theory.

Keywords

• didáctica de la traducción
• Saussure
• Esquilo
• sintagma
• condensación
• diseminación