Dying in Language: World Literature Through the Prism of Misreading and Mistranslation

Abstract

Theory of world literature used to stand extensively on the premises of translatability and readability through which works of literature become recognized as world literature. However, one alternative avenue of theoretical investigation for the ways literatures achieve global avowal is through the other chances offered by “misreading,” “mistranslation” and “untranslatability.” Untranslatability is a relatively new means of inspection in literary studies and criticism, which revisits the act of translation by re-considering the moments of failure, resistance, and impossibility of translation. If translatability has been regarded as the only and secure road to synthesize globally recognized literature, yet untranslatability might also enhance the possibility of supplementing literary worldliness. The article tests and investigates the chances of universalizing and canonizing literature through the spectrum of misreading and mistranslation by applying such notions in the cases of Borges and Kafka.

Keywords

• Dying in language
• world literature
• misreading
• mistranslation
• untranslatability
• 在语言中消亡