When poets translate poetry : Authorship, ownership, and translatorship

Abstract

This chapter discusses the interplay between translation and writing in the work of poets who also translate poetry. First, I present the Scandinavian term gjendiktning for the creative rewriting of poetry. I then discuss the role of the author and translator with reference to Michel Foucault’s essay “What Is an Author?” and the task of the poet-translator in relation to theories by Antoine Berman and Barbara Folkart. I then outline four areas of investigation relevant for examining the work of the poet-translator: (1) inclusion, (2) experimentation and renewal, (3) contextualization and positioning, and (4) friendship and community. Finally, I discuss the poet-translators Robert Bly, Tomas Tranströmer, and especially Jan Erik Vold to demonstrate the relevance of this approach. This chapter is under copyright and the publisher should be contacted for permission to re-use or reprint the material in any form. © 2017 John Benjamins Publishing Company