TRANSLATION AND METAPHYSICS: A CASE FOR FICTIONAL CHARACTERS

Abstract If different translations of the same literary work have different syntaxes and semantics, how are they supposed to be about one and the same fictional character? In order to answer this question it’s necessary to (a) know what fictional characters are and (b) present reference conditions for them. Relying on Amie Thomasson’s (1999, 2003, 2007) and Saul Kripke’s (1980, 2013) works I argue that fictional characters are abstract artifacts whose reference is fixed by the baptism performed by an author; and that the identity of a fictional character is preserved due to the maintenance of the same chain of reference. Finally, I show how translators maintain the chain of reference initiated by the author of a given work and how consequently a fictional character remains the same abstract artifact throughout different translations.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lemos,Italo Lins
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina 2020
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2175-79682020000100110
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!