Translation and Mysticism - The Rose and the Wherefore

This book examines the ways in which mysticism can tell us about translation and translation can tell us about mysticism, addressing the ancient but ongoing connections between the art of rendering one text in another language and the art of the ineffable.

List of contents

Prologue: Gold and Crystal
1. Becoming Present
1.1 Translation and Mysticism
1.2 The Ineffable
1.3 Case study: Reading Mystical Texts for Translation
2. Eternity
2.1 Problem or Mystery?
2.2 Grammar
2.3 Case study: Moses and the Burning Bush
3. The Sounding of the Song
3.1 Translation and Gnosis
3.2 The Translator and the Task
3.3 Case study: Friedrich Hölderlin and Sophocles
4. Light from Darkness
4.1 Discovery, Construction and Declaration
4.2 Translation as Attention
4.3 Case study: Willis Barnstone and John of the Cross
5. Becoming the Script
5.1 Untranslatability
5.2 Translation as Performance
5.3 Case study: Translating the Spell
6. The Rose and the Wherefore
6.1 Problem and Mystery
6.2 Moving On
6.3 Case study: Emma Gee and Lucretius
Epilogue: Staying in the Sun

About the author

Philip Wilson is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Translation at the University of East Anglia, UK, where he teaches Religion and World Philosophies, Philosophy Meets the Arts and Translation Studies.

Product details

• Authors: Philip Wilson, Philip (University of East Anglia Wilson
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 27.10.2025
• EAN: 9781032182438
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3218243-8
• No. of pages: 192
• Series: Routledge Studies in Literary Translation
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative linguistics; Philosophy of Language, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / General, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General, Religion: general, Translation & interpretation, Literary studies: general, Western philosophy from c 1800, Western Philosophy, From C 1900 -, Eclectic & Esoteric Religions & Belief Systems, Eclectic and esoteric religions and belief systems, Translation and language interpretation