Translatophilia

Abstract

This paper advances the notion of translatophilia, defined as the fetishisation of translation in hypercorrection of its perceived marginalisation. Using as a case in point how translation studies scholars have engaged with the copyright regime in postpositivist fashion, it argues that in the course of resisting structuralist notions of originality and authorship, translation studies has ironically come to fetishise its object of study as the privileged site of a new individuality and personality—romantic myths it initially set out to dispel. In light of the recent “outward turn” in translation studies, the paper identifies sources of anxiety in the field that have pushed it toward extreme theorisation. It proposes that before translation studies makes its outward turn, it is pertinent for it to first turn inward to combat its translatophiliac tendencies.