• “The Poetics from Athens to al-Andalus: Ibn Rushd’s Grounds for Comparison,” Modern Philology 112 (2014): 1-24.

    Author(s):
    Rebecca Ruth Gould (see profile)
    Date:
    2014
    Group(s):
    Classical Tradition, Graeco-Arabic Studies, Literary Translation, Medieval Studies, Poetics and Poetry
    Subject(s):
    Comparative literature, Reading, Translating and interpreting, Aristotle, Arabic literature
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Translation
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6C24QM7W
    Abstract:
    The Middle Commentary on Aristotle's Poetics by the Andalusian philosopher Ibn Rushd (d. 1198) has been treated by commentators as wide-ranging as Borges, Renan, and Kilito as an exemplary case of the failure of translation. Critics who presume Ibn Rushd's failure often concentrate on his rendering of Aristotle's tragedy and comedy by praise (madīh) and blame (hijā’). Taking account of Ibn Rushd's stated intention of using Aristotle‘s Poetics to facilitate comparative literary analysis, I argue here that far from representing a failure of comprehension, the rendering of tragedy and comedy as praise and blame respectively offered the Arabic philosopher a useful means of conceiving literary form outside the confines of a single literary tradition. Contrary to recent arguments in contemporary translation theory, Ibn Rushd's methodical appropriation of Aristotle's treatise suggests that at certain cultural junctures pursuing the path of fluency and localization can accomplish more than literalist foreignization.
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    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    5 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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