Multiple-Entry Visa for Travelling Theory: Retranslations of Literary and Cultural Theories

The article questions certain assumptions about retranslation which prevail
rather unchallenged in Translation Studies, and discusses the terminological
issues involved in retranslating theoretical texts. By presenting examples
from two case studies, namely the reception of Roland Barthes’s work in
Turkey and of Hélène Cixous’s work in Anglo-America, it examines the
reasons underlying the abundance vs. rarity of retranslations in each case,
respectively. Throughout the article, I contend that the factors of
dominance, elasticity, tolerance, and power of the source and receiving
systems involved determine whether travelling theory will be granted a
multiple-entry visa to literary and cultural systems through retranslation.