"Not a translation but a mutilation": The Limits of Translation and the Discipline of Sexology

Abstract

This article uses the discipline of sexology as a means to test the limits of translation. Specifically, I examine the translation and dissemination in English of works by three German sexologists, Ulrichs, Krafft-Ebing and Hirschfeld, focusing on what Benjamin termed issues of the "translatability" of a text. My analysis reveals that the binary model of "translatability" versus "un-translatability" does not suffice to describe the dissemination of sexological ideas. I introduce the notion of "a-translatability" to problematize the idea that certain concepts are without translation when they are disseminated among languages.

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