ABSTRACT
The traditional Western view of metaphor as a poetically and rhetorically creative but secondary ornamental form of representation was radically questioned only in the course of the twentieth century. This theoretical shift can also be detected in translation studies, especially with respect to the use of translation as a metaphor in its own right. In addressing some of the discursive tensions implied in this shift, this chapter focuses on Antoine Berman’s writings about the relationship between translation and metaphor, and the use of translation as a metaphor in other disciplinary areas. Concerned that a metaphorical use of translation might endanger its uniqueness as a practice and a way of thinking, Berman distinguishes between a restricted and a generalized use of the metaphor of translation and attempts to draw a clear line between them by using two different but intimately related words: traduction for the restricted and translation for the generalized use. However, as Theo Hermans’s work has shown, these terminological border skirmishes call for a less defensive and more open-minded strategy. Reimporting the expanded metaphorical use of translation into translation studies could enhance theoretical awareness of the metalanguage of translation and initiate a productive shift in terminology.
