The End of Translation as we know it. Disturbing Translatability in the Work of Vicente Huidobro.

In his manifesto 'Creacionismo', author Vicente Huidobro stated clearly that universality and translatability are explicit aims of creationist writings. An analysis of his universally translatable poetry, carried out in earlier research, not only demonstrated the frailty of his specific conception of translatability, it also appears to compromise the very notion of translatability. In this contribution, we would like to change our focus and re-open the debate on the essence of translation. Ever since James Holmes and Gideon Toury entered the fundamental debates, the discussion on the essence of translation has been brought to an end by the statement that history reveals inconstestably that translation 'is' what can be 'called' a translation. This pragmatic killer phrase has foreclosed almost every notion of essence. In line with earlier research on translatability, we would like to reassess the definitions formulated by Descriptive Translation Studies scholars, and, consequently, to reassess the fundamental question: 'What counts as a translation?' It is our contention that an elaboration of a minimal essentialist theory in the near future will be indispensable.