Chapter 3 - Translation and/as Adaptation

Summary

This chapter discusses how translation and adaptation are key factors in the 'thick' cultural processes that reconnect past and present. Starting from the premise that translations are works in their own right, the argument shows how translation and adaptation of works from other times, places, and languages are themselves forms of reception and of cultural commentary. Special attention is given to situating mediations, displacements, and moments of heightened receptivity in language, performance, and hermeneutics. Three examples from the translation and performance history of Aeschylus' Oresteia are analysed in depth: the subtitled YouTube production of the Watchman's scene by Barefaced Greek; the collaboration in text, performance, and mask design between Tony Harrison and Jocelyn Herbert; and the symbiosis of translation and adaptation in Yael Farber's Molora. The concluding section of the discussion points to future directions in the relationship between translation/adaptation and the construction of cultural memories.