Silent translation in Joyce

Focusing on the notion of silent translation, i.e. the unacknowledged incorporation of translated texts into one’s writing, this chapter calls attention to the inherently translational nature of Joyce’s use of intertextuality. The silent operations carried out by Joyce in dealing with other writers’ words in translation are thus investigated. The author suggests that silent translation should be viewed as one of the key components of Joyce’s radically intertextual writing method, a strategy he made use of to question the traditional notions of originality and derivation.