George Steiner’s Hermeneutic Motion and the Ontology, Ethics, and Epistemology of Translation

This chapter is organized around three phrases from Phil Goodwin’s ide­alizing reading of George Steiner’s hermeneutic motion: (1) “there is a certain vi­olence involved,” (2) “This imagery offended some readers,” and (3) “this second stage of translation will always feel like a violation.” In response to those remarks, my research questions are (Q1) What is the ontology of that “certain violence,” and why did it “offend some readers”? (Q2) What is the ethical significance of Steiner’s pas­sage through violence in the hermeneutic motion? (Q3) What is the epistemological sig­nificance of “feeling” in the recognition that “this second stage of translation will always feel like a violation”? The trajectory of my argument, in other words, is from ontologization (Q1) through ethical regimes (Q2) to the epistemology of feeling (Q3).