Translation Disease: Proximity Gone Awry

We present here considerations of three trans-medial translations that have caused dis-ease. We look at novel to film, poem to cantata, and novel to film to television series translations to examine various strains of dis-ease. Upon early consideration, we realized Wilson’s call for a “turn to the functional” provides a means of determining whether a translation is “inadequate” – has gone awry. We then fit the concept of translation into our model of proximity as a way to consider whether a “putative translation really [is] a translation of some text.” Ultimately, we argue that one person’s disease may be another’s may be another’s cure.