The Task of the Translator

E170473

essay literary theory essay translation studies text

The Task of the Translator is Walter Benjamin’s influential 1923 essay that theorizes translation as a creative, transformative act revealing the “afterlife” of literary works rather than merely reproducing their meaning.

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All labels observed (2)

Label	Occurrences
The Task of the Translator canonical	4
Die Aufgabe des Übersetzers	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1495133 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: The Task of the Translator
Context triple: [Walter Benjamin, notableWork, The Task of the Translator]

A. The Mutability of Literature
"The Mutability of Literature" is a reflective essay by Washington Irving, presented as part of his Sketch Book, that meditates wryly on the transience of books and literary fame.
B. Treatise on the Origin of Language
Treatise on the Origin of Language is an influential 18th-century philosophical work that explores the natural, cultural, and historical origins of human language.
C. On Interpretation
On Interpretation is a foundational philosophical treatise by Aristotle that examines language, meaning, and the logical structure of propositions, laying groundwork for later logic and semantics.
D. Syntactic Structures
Syntactic Structures is a landmark 1957 book by linguist Noam Chomsky that revolutionized the study of language by introducing generative grammar and challenging behaviorist views of linguistics.
E. A Fable for Critics
A Fable for Critics is a satirical poem by James Russell Lowell that humorously critiques and caricatures his contemporary American authors and the literary scene of his time.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: The Task of the Translator
Target entity description: The Task of the Translator is Walter Benjamin’s influential 1923 essay that theorizes translation as a creative, transformative act revealing the “afterlife” of literary works rather than merely reproducing their meaning.

A. The Mutability of Literature
"The Mutability of Literature" is a reflective essay by Washington Irving, presented as part of his Sketch Book, that meditates wryly on the transience of books and literary fame.
B. Treatise on the Origin of Language
Treatise on the Origin of Language is an influential 18th-century philosophical work that explores the natural, cultural, and historical origins of human language.
C. On Interpretation
On Interpretation is a foundational philosophical treatise by Aristotle that examines language, meaning, and the logical structure of propositions, laying groundwork for later logic and semantics.
D. Syntactic Structures
Syntactic Structures is a landmark 1957 book by linguist Noam Chomsky that revolutionized the study of language by introducing generative grammar and challenging behaviorist views of linguistics.
E. A Fable for Critics
A Fable for Critics is a satirical poem by James Russell Lowell that humorously critiques and caricatures his contemporary American authors and the literary scene of his time.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (51)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	essay ⓘ literary theory essay ⓘ translation studies text ⓘ
associatedPhilosophicalTradition	German Jewish philosophy ⓘ early 20th-century continental philosophy ⓘ
author	Walter Benjamin ⓘ
centralConcept	afterlife of literary works ⓘ kinship of languages ⓘ pure language ⓘ relationship between original and translation ⓘ task of the translator as revealing latent relations between languages ⓘ translation as a creative, transformative act ⓘ untranslatability of pure meaning ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	Germany ⓘ
firstPublishedIn	introduction to Walter Benjamin’s translation of Charles Baudelaire’s "Tableaux parisiens" ⓘ
hasEnglishTitle	The Task of the Translator ⓘ
hasNotableEnglishTranslator	Harry Zohn ⓘ James Hynd and E. M. Valk ⓘ Steven Rendall ⓘ
hasReception	extensively discussed in deconstructive literary criticism ⓘ subject of numerous scholarly commentaries and reinterpretations ⓘ widely regarded as foundational in modern translation theory ⓘ
hasTheme	historicity of language ⓘ limits of equivalence in translation ⓘ original versus derivative status of translations ⓘ sacred and profane dimensions of language ⓘ
includedIn	collections of Walter Benjamin’s essays such as "Illuminations" ⓘ
influencedField	comparative literature ⓘ deconstruction ⓘ literary criticism ⓘ philosophy ⓘ translation studies ⓘ
influencedThinker	Jacques Derrida ⓘ Lawrence Venuti ⓘ Paul de Man ⓘ
keyIdea	a translation can outlast the original’s linguistic form ⓘ fidelity is owed to the mode of meaning, not to literal correspondence ⓘ good translations are not transparent reproductions but transformations ⓘ languages are related in a higher, pure language that translations help to approximate ⓘ the original and the translation are mutually related stages in a work’s life ⓘ the task of the translator is to release pure language imprisoned in the original ⓘ translation does not aim primarily at transmitting information ⓘ translation participates in the afterlife and continued unfolding of the original work ⓘ
originalLanguage	German ⓘ
originalTitle	Die Aufgabe des Übersetzers ⓘ linked to: The Task of the Translator
publicationYear	1923 ⓘ
relatedWork	Walter Benjamin’s essay "On Language as Such and on the Language of Man" ⓘ Walter Benjamin’s writings on art and criticism ⓘ
theoreticalField	literary theory ⓘ philosophy of language ⓘ translation theory ⓘ