Derrida Translating: Reconceptualising Literary and Philosophical Translation

For decades, Translation Studies has struggled to engage with Jacques Derrida, whose radical questioning of language seemed to undermine translation theory’s foundations. This book reveals a hidden dimension: Derrida’s obsessive engagement with translation throughout his career. The text uncovers his ＂translation reflex＂ of constant pausing to question how concepts might be translated, demonstrating how this overlooked practice shaped his philosophical thinking.

Examining translation alongside key themes from Derrida’s later work including inheritance, mourning, and the messianic, Kathryn Batchelor reconceptualizes translation as a philosophical tool, a response to intellectual heritage, and a means of confronting mortality. Through analysis of Derrida’s translation of ＂Husserl’s The Origin of Geometry＂ and readings of ＂Plato’s Pharmacy＂ and ＂Spectres of Marx＂, this text reveals his surprisingly conventional translation practices.

As the first comprehensive study of Derrida as translator and the first book on Derrida and translation in two decades, this work challenges misconceptions about ＂anything goes＂ interpretations while offering insights into translation as a driving force in his development. Essential for scholars and advanced students in Translation Studies, Philosophy, Literary Theory, and Continental Philosophy.

Kathryn Batchelor is Professor of Translation Studies at University College London. She is the author of ＂Translation and Paratexts and Decolonizing Translation＂ (Routledge 2017) and has co-edited ＂Translating Frantz Fanon across Continents and Languages, Translation-Trouvailles＂ (Routledge 2019).