Invented languages, intertextuality, and indirect translation: Wilde’s Salomé in Esperanto

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article discusses two competing versions of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé that were translated into Esperanto indirectly. Salomé was originally written in French and is a retelling of a biblical story. The English translation of the play, sometimes taken to be the original, flaunts its biblical heritage, often through direct quotation from the King James Version. However, there was no canonical Bible in Esperanto at the time of translation, making it impossible to achieve equivalent effect by means of parallel intertextual references. The relation between equivalence and intertextuality is just one example of a central issue in the study and practice of translation that is thrown into sharp relief when considering invented languages. Esperanto is in many ways a language of translation, and studying its literature may enrich not only the linguistic scope of translation studies research but also its theoretical apparatus.