Intermediality and/in Translation

The chapter describes interrelations between intermedial phenomena and translation from several angles. First, intermediality is discussed as a product of translation (transformation into a different medium), with a range of examples and an account of the development of the theoretical concept of intersemiotic translation and of its uses to capture and probe intermedia relations. It is shown that intermedial transformations are investigated under various names, and it is probed whether terminology makes a difference to the scope and ways of scholarly interrogations. Secondly, the interface of intermediality with translation proper is outlined. Similarities between intersemiotic translation and interlingual translation are indicated. Intermediality in polycode texts or in the form of intermedial references embedded in verbal texts constitutes a potential challenge for translators and becomes a translation studies issue. Consequently, methodological propositions which account for that are described and problems are highlighted by empirical material. Importantly, the co-presence of various codes is currently recognised as both a constraint and help in the translation process. The final section demonstrates that interlingual translation is often a middle step between a source text and its remediation and indicates implications of this. Selected studies are cited to exemplify potential lines of analysis, and the necessity for interdisciplinary approaches to the intermedial-translational entanglements is underscored.