Translations age and need renewal because they are children of their time, unlike artworks

Evidence

Translation has always been fraught with such questions, and different times have produced different conceptions of translating. Perhaps this is why, while great works of art seldom age, translations do. The job of the translator is not to simplify or readapt the text for a modern or foreign audience but to find the true voice of the original work, as it was written for its time and with its original intent. Seeking signification in another’s words transports the translator into the mind of the writer. When the text is an opus like The Second Sex, whose impact on society was so decisive, the task of bringing into English the closest version possible of Simone de Beauvoir’s voice, expression, and mind is greater still. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 29

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the translators’ conception of translation — finding the original voice rather than adapting for the audience.
• XREF: Ties to the reader’s broader interest in how editorial scaffolding (prefaces, translations) shapes reception of foundational texts. — connects to: Adulthood strips childhood things of their accumulated meaning — Karl Ove Knausgaard, A Death in the Family, 1980; A civilization can be made to pretend it is younger than it is; Appearances are immortal while meaning is mortal and dispensable — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 542

Broader Connections

• Appearances are immortal while meaning is mortal and dispensable #expands (0.80) — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 542
• Adulthood strips childhood things of their accumulated meaning #expands (0.75) — Karl Ove Knausgaard, A Death in the Family, 1980
• A civilization can be made to pretend it is younger than it is #complicates (0.72)