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Translation, Pornography, Performativity

Experimenting with That Dangerous Supplement

By: Douglas Robinson, Xiaorui Sun

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Paperback | 20 July 2026 | Edition Number 1

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Paperback
158 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.59 x 13.97 x 0.86

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Robinson and Sunâs book goes in search of the neglected metaphorics of translation in pornography using poststructuralist rethinkings and reframings of porn (and masturbation) from Jacques Derrida to Judith Butler.

In his 1684 âEssay on Translated Verse,â the Earl of Roscommon attacked âwant of decencyâ in translation metaphorically by comparing it to picking up prostitutes in the park (âraking the park for stewsâ) instead of hanging out with âtroops of faultless nymphs.â Sex work, and the graphic representation of sex work that Nathaniel Butler was the first to call âpornographyâ in print in 1638, is used as a metaphor for non-normative translation, which in Robinson and Sunâs hands becomes experimental translation.

En route to that goal, the authors take us through Butler on performativity and resistance, Derrida on supplementarity and iterability, and Haun Saussyâs innovative application of Derridean citationality to the use of a target-cultural âsponsorâ or âbondsmanâ for translation. They take detours through Charles Baudelaireâs âUne charogneâ and J.G. Ballardâs âThe Drowned Giant.â

They deal with the performativity of pornography (and translatography) in Part I, the âunnaturalâ iterability of masturbation (and translation) in Part II, and experimental translation in Part III.

The theory-littered path this book takes through the metaphorics of translation will be of interest to scholars and students of translation studies, especially experimental translation and translation theory, but also media scholars interested in the philosophical complexities of performativity.

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