Fidélité créatrice als performative Größe und die Beziehung zwischen Hermeneutik und Kreativität in der Translation

Performance plays a decisive role in both everyday and artistic communication because it is always important to achieve effects. The question of the nature of this effect touches on central aspects of knowledge in general, i. e. whether it is about the realisation of a personal view of reality or whether reality itself realises its effect with the help of the transmitter. The classical concept of mimesis (i. e. the effort to imitate nature) strikes a balance between the subjective and the objective side of truthfinding. In translation studies, too, the concept of performance plays a central role, since every translation is in principle an assignment that is given specifically, with certain objectives. From a translatological point of view, one term of modern philosophy, or more precisely a term coined by Gabriel Marcel, proves to be particularly fruitful for this: fidélité créatrice. Faithfulness to the original is not strict reproduction, but rather the constant updating of essential elements in the service of a goal to be achieved. In this article, the translational performance thus understood will be presented in three variations and illustrated by means of examples. Firstly, it will be a matter of recognizing the performance of the original and trying to ‘effect’ it anew. Secondly, the performance underlying the multiple translation, which corresponds to new and changed intentions, will be examined. Thirdly, translation is to be seen as the performance of a translator as an individual who ‘puts his or her own stamp’ on it. It will be recognized that by orienting oneself towards the concepts of mimesis and fidélité créatrice, fidelity to the original in terms of an active search for deeper layers of its meaning is not only of hermeneutical significance, but also unfolds a relevant performative power.