TRANSLATION EDITING IN EDITORIAL STUDIES: CONCEPTUAL UNDERPINNINGS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Abstract

The present article delineates conceptual approaches for studying translation editing and positions the analysis of these practices within the field of editorial studies of translation. To this end, a focused historiographical analysis of key theoretical perspectives on translation editing in Ukrainian and global scholarship is undertaken, identifying key metatrends in the evolution of thought. The rationale for establishing editorial studies of translation as a distinct domain, capable of designing a more expansive editorial lens on translation, is argued. Drawing upon an editological framework, three complementary methodological lenses are developed and proposed for the comprehensive investigation of translated publications: the network-systemic, the conceptual-phenomenological, and the ideological-political. The network-systemic perspective focuses on the intersubjectivity and distributed agency inherent in the process of constructing translation edition, underscoring the multiplicity of stakeholders and their dynamic interplay. The conceptual-phenomenological framework foregrounds the dimensions of temporality, intentionality, and conceptual integration within the work on translated publications, demonstrating their influence on the final textual configuration and its subsequent reception. Within the ideological and political context of analyzing the work of an editor-compiler, we can draw upon a range of relevant perspectives, such as strategic essentialism (G.C. Spivak), the internalization of dominant ideology (the so-called “false consciousness”), subversion, and othering, as well as various others. This enables us to move beyond a purely technical and stylistic understanding of editing, revealing how the editor-compiler's choices actively shape meanings and either reproduce or challenge existing social and power relations within the text. The proposed network-systemic, conceptual-phenomenological, and ideological-political perspectives open up wide possibilities for further in-depth research into specific editorial practices, examining their multidimensional impact on translated editions.