7.0225 Freud in Translation (1/47)
Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Mon, 4 Oct 1993 15:20:54 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 7, No. 0225. Monday, 4 Oct 1993.
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1993 09:19:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: Grant Stirling <stirling@bosshog.arts.uwo.ca>
Subject: Freud in translation
Anyone familiar with Luce Irigaray's reading of Freud's
"Femininity" paper in her *Speculum of the Other Woman* is
probably also aware of the problematic issues of the inter-
lingual translation of Freud raised by Irigaray. In her "The
Blind Spot of an Old Dream of Symmetry" Irigaray acknowledges
that she is using a French translation of Freud's "Femininity"
paper which she identifies as:
"La f=82mininit=82" Nouvelles conf=82rences sur la psychoanalyse.
Gallimard, Ide=82s.
But at the same time, Irigaray states that this French
translation of Freud's German text is fragmentary and in places,
incomplete.
In her *The Enigma of Woman*, Sarah Kofman criticises
Irigaray's use of this "quite dreadful" French translation and
turns instead, to the German language %Gesammelte Werke% 18 vols.
(Frankfurt and London, 1952-1968) edition of Freud's work.=20
Kofman states by turning to the German text, she is "manifesting
the minimum intellectual honesty that consists in criticising an
author in terms of what he has said [in the original German]
rather than what someone has managed to have him say [in the
corrupt French translation]."
So clearly, what is at stake here is an issue of "textual
adequacy": the adequacy of a French translation in terms of a
German "original."
To wrap up this long-winded question, I would ask if anyone
can direct me to any materials that examine the "adequacy" of the
French Freud %vis-=85-vis% the German Freud. Further, I would also
ask if anyone can direct me to any materials that discuss the
editorial procedures by which the standard edition of the German
Freud was created.
Please reply off-list and, if responses warrant, I will
summarize and post all citations to the list. Thanks in advance.
Grant Stirling
York University
Toronto, Ontario
E-mail: stirling@bosshog.arts.uwo.ca