Esquisses pour une théorie de l'imagination traductive : Nerval et Baudelaire traducteurs

For many writers, translation represented an opportunity to expand their imagination. It is an evolution of their linguistic abilities, a door wide open on a legacy of images, symbols, fascinations which take us beyond a simple linguistic system. Translation is to be considered as a means to explore consciousness through language: a real form of knowledge of reality, a philosophical and spiritual act. Imagination is the queen of human abilities, barycentre of all Nerval and Baudelaire translations. Between translation and rewriting, literary experience and spiritual quest, what is the role of imagination in Nerval and Baudelaire’s thoughts on translation? We will focus especially on Nerval’s notes on German poets’ translations, and on Baudelaire’s preface to "Nouvelles Histoires extraordinaires" by Edgar Allan Poe.