Translated Title: Translation and World Literature. Author Name: Marko Juvan, ZRC SAZU Ljubljana, Slovenija, marko.juvan@zrc-sazu.si. Language: Slovenian, Polish. Issue: 5 (1)/2014. Page Range: 15-51. Ključne besede: literarni prevod, svetovna književnost, literarni sistemi, primerjalna književnost, Goethe Johann W. Key words: literary translation, world literature, literary systems, comparative literature, Goethe Johann W.

Povzetek: Znotraj nacionalnih literarnih sistemov je bila prevodna literatura v primerjavi z izvirno ustvarjalnostjo tradicionalno dojeta kot drugorazredna, čeprav so prav prevodi v te sisteme vnašali najbolj reprezentativna dela svetovne književnosti (Eysteinsson). Ne glede na to, ali svetovno književnost razumemo kot vsoto literatur v jezikih sveta, kanon najboljših literarnih del človeštva ali globalni prostor medliterarnosti, je prevod zanjo konstitutiven. Domnevna univerzalnost svetovne književnosti se namreč v partikularne sisteme vpisuje variantno, predvsem prek perspektiv prevodov, ki so vodilna oblika medkulturnega obtoka literarnih del. Ker je z vidika kulturnega nacionalizma literatura v domačem knjižnem jeziku veljala za kronski dokaz narodne identitete in ustvarjalne samoniklosti, je bila vloga prevoda pogosto razvrednotena in zamejena v kulturno potrošnjo. V prvi polovici 19. stoletja sta kvaliteta in bogastvo prevodnega repertoarja vendarle postala tudi nekakšen mednarodni kriterij za vrednotenje dosežene kulturne ravni naroda in razvitosti njegovega knjižnega jezika. Že postpozitivistična komparativistika je prevod upoštevala kot pomembnega posrednika v mednarodnih literarnih stikih (npr. Ocvirk), a šele sodobna translatologija je refleksijo prevoda proti koncu 20. stoletja povzdignila v teorijo, s katero je utemeljila paradigmatske spremembe metod za obravnavo celotnega sklopa literature, tako v nacionalni kakor primerjalni literarni vedi (Bassnett, Even-Zohar). Na zvišanje vrednosti prevoda v literarni vedi na začetku 21. stoletja odločilno vpliva globalna renesansa Goethejeve Weltliteratur. Dobro desetletje za Ďurišinovo teorijo svetovnega literarnega sistema se z reinterpretacijami Goetheja razvija literarnovedna paradigma, ki skuša preseči nacionalne literarne zgodovine, primerjalno književnost in postkolonialno kritištvo (Lawall, Casanova, Moretti, Damrosch idr.). Toda prevod je bil ključna podlaga že za zgodovinsko genezo izvorne koncepcije Weltliteratur, s katero je Goethe hotel promovirati humanistični estetski kozmopolitizem, ustvarjalno revitalizirati nacionalne literature in uveljaviti nemško književnost kot novo žarišče mednarodnega literarnega življenja. Članek se posveča vprašanju, kako je bila izkušnja s prevodi vpletena v Goethejevi ideji obtoka in refleksije sebstva v drugem in kakšno reinterpretacijo so te koncepcije nedavno doživele pri Damroschu in Thomsenu. Goethe je z bralnim sopostavljanjem del iz evropskih in »orientalskih« književnosti, ki so mu bila dostopna v izvirnikih ali prevodih, motril svojo literarno-kulturno identiteto in odkrival nove plasti estetskega doživljanja. Prevodjenasplohvodilni modus transnacionalnega literarnega obtoka in medkulturnega dialoga, a tudi globalizacije zahodne geokulture in prevlade njenega estetskega diskurza. Prevod je namreč podvržen asimetrijam svetovnih sistemov ekonomije, jezikov, politike in literature. Dostop besedila do obtoka v svetovnem literarnem prostoru je odvisen tudi od tega, ali je bilo to delo ustvarjeno v katerem od »velikih« zahodnih jezikov oziroma ali je bilo v kak globalni jezik prevedeno.

Summary: Compared to the original production within national literary systems, literary translations are traditionally regarded of lesser importance, although it is through translating that the representative works of world literature have been introduced into these very systems (Eysteinsson). The translation is constitutive of world literature, be it understood either as an aggregate of literatures expressed in all the languages of the globe, the canon of “eternal” artworks of humankind, or as the global space of inter-literary relations. The presumed universality of world literature is always already inscribed in particular literary systems through different variants and perspectives articulated by translations, the latter representing the most prominent form of cross -cultural circulation of literature. Since cultural nationalism saw literature in the standard mother tongue as the pillar of national identity and the main evidence of the nation’s creative originality, literary translations were often discarded as mere derivatives restricted to the realm of cultural consumption. In the first half of the 19 th century, however, the quality and richness of the translation repertoire began to figure also as quasi-international standards for evaluating to what degree the particular “national” language and culture were developed. As early as post-positivist comparatistics, the translation was treated as an important factor of international literary mediation (e.g. Ocvirk), but it is only the late twentieth-century translation studies that raised the reflection on translation to the level of theory enabling to ground a paradigmatic shift of methods for the entire study of literature, in national and comparative literary studies alike (Bassnett, Even-Zohar). The valorization of translation that is going on since the beginning of the 21st century has been decisively influenced by the global renaissance of Goethe’s Weltliteratur. More than a decade after Ďurišin’s theory of the world literary system and based on the reinterpretations of Goethe’s notion of world literature, a new scholarly paradigm is in full swing that attempts to transcend national literary history, comparative literature, and postcolonialism (Lawall, Casanova, Moretti, Damrosch, etc.). However, the translation was of key importance already in the historical beginnings of the conception of Weltliteratur, with which Goethe aimed at promoting humanist aesthetic cosmopolitanism, creatively reviving national literature and establishing German literature as a new hub of international literary life. The present article focuses on how experiencing translations had formed Goethe’s ideas of circulation and the self-reflection through otherness and how these ideas were recently reinterpreted by Damrosch and Thomsen. Juxtaposing works of various European and “Oriental” literatures (either in the original or in translation), Goethe reflected on his literary and cultural identity and discovered new qualities of his aesthetic experience. Generally speaking, the translation — because of its position within the asymmetries of the world systems of economy, languages, and literatures — is not only the primary mode of transnational literary circulation and cross-cultural dialogism, but also the relay for the global spread of Western geo-culture and the hegemony of its aesthetic discourse. The possibility of a particular literary text to gain access to the global literary circulation depends, among other factors, on the fact whether the work in question has been produced in a “major” Western language or has been translated in a global language.