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Notes on the Translation
- Fordham University Press
- Chapter
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Notes on the Translation The reader, not the writer, determines the meaning of a sentence. What, then, do translators do? For readers in English, this trialog now has two additional participants, although these two are trying their best to be discrete, almost transparent. Try though we might, however, this is an impossible task: translation is not a trivial operation, and in true Foersterian fashion we translators have played an active role in determining the meanings of the sentences that follow. In this trialog, the science cannot be separated from the person, and we strove to capture not just the participants’ ideas but also their voices. The conversational dynamics are delicate: the joking, the bickering, the prickly wit of Heinz, the conciliatory efforts of Karl and Albert. Then, of course, there were all the puns. This is a genre-defying project, a conversation that dismantles and ignores disciplinary divisions. Heinz, Albert, and Karl make it clear that computers, genetics, language, and joie de vivre really should be discussed together. This book is a conversation not just among three people but also among disciplines that are all too often not on speaking terms. It introduces a fantastic toolbox of mathematical and scientific concepts to the humanities. It also serves as a reminder that science and mathematics must not remove themselves from the dance of life. Our translation itself has been a dialog. We have, in fact, almost translated the book twice, with Michael’s first translation becoming the basis for Elinor’s second translation, with much subsequent correspondence, xxiv Notes on the Translation debating, and fretting. The process has given us ample grounds for appreciating the magic of language and of mutual comprehension. We began our translation in 2007 and finished nearly a year later. We returned to it—with surprise and delight—in 2011 for editing. The footnotes have been kindly transposed from the German by Albert Müller. We owe Albert Müller and Karl Müller many thanks for their encouragement and for their absolutely crucial assistance in bringing this translation to publication. Michael K asenbacher and Elinor Rooks, 2011 ...