37.283, Books: A Zombie Theory of Translation: Robinson (2026)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-37-283. Tue Jan 20 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.283, Books: A Zombie Theory of Translation: Robinson (2026)

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Date: 19-Jan-2026
From: Ellena Moriarty [rfsupport at cambridge.org]
Subject: A Zombie Theory of Translation: Robinson (2026)


Title: A Zombie Theory of Translation
Subtitle: Or, What is a 'Revenant' Translation?
Series Title: Elements in Translation and Interpreting
Publication Year: 2026

Publisher: Cambridge University Press
           http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics
Book URL:
https://www.cambridge.org/ch/universitypress/subjects/languages-linguistics/applied-linguistics-and-second-language-acquisition/zombie-theory-translation-or-what-revenant-translation?format=PB&isbn=9781009678230

Author(s): Douglas Robinson

Hardback ISBN:  9781009678186 Pages:  80 Price: U.K. £ 55.00
Hardback ISBN:  9781009678186 Pages:  80 Price: Europe EURO 64.19
Hardback ISBN:  9781009678186 Pages:  80 Price: U.S. $ 70.00
Paperback ISBN:  9781009678230 Pages:  80 Price: U.K. £ 18.00
Paperback ISBN:  9781009678230 Pages:  80 Price: Europe EURO 21.01
Paperback ISBN:  9781009678230 Pages:  80 Price: U.S. $ 23.00

Abstract:

In 'Des Tours de Babel' Jacques Derrida brilliantly deconstructs
Benjamin's 1923 essay, but in 'What is a 'Relevant' Translation?' his
wording suggestively hints at the possibility that Benjamin sees the
source text dying and returning to life as the translation, in which
only the body (not the mind, not the spirit, not the sense) of the
source text survives. Smash these two brilliant theorists' ideas
together and arguably what emerges is a zombie theory of translation:
zombies, after all, are mindless embodied revenants. If we shift
Derrida's titular question slightly, and ask “What is a 'Revenant'
Translation?”, one radical answer would be that it is a zombie
translation. To that end this Element not only theorizes the six
million Holocaust Shylock-zombies but explores that theme narratively,
in a 5,000-word short story interwoven with the 20,000-word article.

Written In: English (eng)



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