In his article 'The Task of the Translator' Walter
Benjamin claims that, just as 'no poem is intended
for the reader, no picture for the beholder, no
symphony for the listener,' so no translation can
serve a 'transmitting function' (Benjamin 1972). On
the contrary, the purpose of translation is to
manifest the essential 'kinship' between languages
and to grope towards that 'pure language' of which
ali existing languages are merely fragments.
Apart from ttie extraordinary presumption
Benjamin displays here in denying different poets
and artists different intentions in the genesis of
their work by submitting them to an overall
determinist 'purpose' greater than themselves (and
thus tinkering with the meaning of the verb
'intend'), one is also struck by the transcendentalism
inherent in his idea of a 'pure
language' that somehow unites all other languages.
