J.-B. DUBOS PHYLOSOPHY AND ESTHETICS OF TRANSLATION

Abstract

This paper highlights the one of the first serious conception of translation proposed in the beginning of XVIII century by Jean-Baptiste Dubos, French historian and critic of art. Our choice of this historical topic is based on the belief that the translation problems have not changed much during the period between the eighteenth century and ours (Aldridge).
The purpose of our study is to bring together the thoughts of Dubos scattered throughout the text of his «Critical Reflections» (1719), to systematize them around several major themes (comparisons of languages and cultures, difficulties of translation, translation of poetry) and so on to recreate his translation concept.
Dubos deals with translation problems only indirectly, but considers them on a broad philosophical and aesthetic background and expresses deep thoughts on the impact of differences between languages and cultures on translation, which were further developed in the writings of Humboldt and his followers.
Special attention is paid to Dubos typology of translation difficulties based on an analysis of the causes that give rise to them. He identifies 1) the difficulties associated with differences in word meanings, 2) the difficulties caused by differences in the ethno-cultural connotations of words, 3) the difficulties arising from inconsistency of stylistic word registers 4) the difficulties emanating from the differences in figurative values.
The parallels established in the article testify that his concept of translation in many respects has outstripped his time and quite naturally enters into a dialogue with the latest poetics and theories of translation.