The Trampslator: Performing the translation of the sound of silence

Résumé En

This article seeks to explore the aesthetics of translation through analysis of Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, in which the Tramp sings a song that can be analysed as a performance of the translation of the sound of silence. While defining silence as effects of silence, and clarifying the relation between performance and translation, the article places itself within a paradigm of heterodox translation, namely a practice of translation that while being non-metaphorical, expands the realm of translation in its relation to sound and multilingualism. The Tramp’s song is analysed in relation to its meaning for Modern Times and as carrying more meaning than critics usually read. Read from the perspective of translation studies and of US experimental poetry, the song is seen as a crucial sequence for translation at large, as an example of what the article calls ‘trampslation’ or, that is, a motley of translations such as homophonic or intersemiotic translations that destabilize our conceptions of translation and languages. Thus, the article seeks to use what Lawrence Venuti defines as heuristic translation and demonstrate that translation is a strong interpretive tool.