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Dr Daniela Sacco's paper from the Translating Theatre Symposium (Europe House, London, 21st October 2016), entitled "Quotation as a Technique of ‘Foreignisation'"

Abstract:
This proposal for the call Translating Theatre: ‘Foreignisation’ on Stage aims to reflect on the concept of quotation in relation to theatrical context, and in particular to the context of research on translation for the stage.
The starting point is the meaning of quotation for the German philosopher Walter Benjamin, in particular his reflections on Bertolt Brecht’s epic theatre, where he states that ‘Quoting a text implies interrupting its context’ (Understanding Brecht [1966] 1998, p. 19). Quotation poses the question of contextualization and re-contextualization, of the difference between the origin of the quote and the new context in which it is inserted. Quotation for Benjamin is an instrument of interruption, which is one of the fundamental methods of all form-giving. In this sense it concerns the historical and political context.
But quotation also implies the common meaning of what you want to communicate. In this sense, a representative author for the study of the meaning of quotation is the Italian Germanist and philosopher Furio Jesi, who reflects on use of quotations in Thomas Mann’s work (Materiali mitologici [1979] 2001, pp. 183-223). For Jesi, quoting is a mythological technique, which reveals the universals, and quotation is an instrument of composition, conjunction, and analogy.
For both Benjamin and Jesi quoting makes use of the mechanism of montage. The technique of montage, in fact, interrupts the context into which it is inserted but also implies a connection between different parts. Montage, as I have argued (Mito e teatro. Il principio drammaturgico del montaggio), is a dramatic principle, where particular and universal, difference and identity find a symbolic synthesis.
Given these theoretical premises, the aim of this proposal is to reflect on the use of montage in Brecht’s epic theatre, analysing the possible connection between the concepts of quotation, Verfremdungseffekt, and Lawrence Venuti’s notion of ‘foreignisation’, the latter crucial to explore the politics and ideology of theatre translation and adaptation.

Biography:
Daniela Sacco, philosopher trained in psychoanalysis and aesthetics at the University of Venice and at the University of Siena, collaborates with the Centro studi classicA of IUAV (Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia) in Venice. She is the author of a number of books, articles, reviews and play texts; among her publications: Pensiero in azione. Bertolt Brecht, Robert Wilson, Peter Sellars: tre protagonisti del teatro contemporaneo (2012); Al di là delle colonne d’Ercole. Hillman erede infedele di Jung (2013), Mito e teatro. Il principio drammaturgico del montaggio (2013). Her current focus is on the aesthetics and the philosophy of theatre.’