You read to find out what other people think, to experience alterity. Why would your concern be with translating everything back into your own system of thought, domesticating all foreign discourse? Why insist on originality/novelty of your own reading? A truly original reading would be one that actually tried to understand something truly different from your self and its preconceived notions. I remember back in the 1970s people started to say that the literary theorists, not the writers, were becoming the real stars. I disagree!

***

The notion of "mistranslation" recurs continually in David Shapiro's last few books, "After a Lost Original." His translation Juan Ramón Jiménez's "Vino, primero, pura" in "Burning Interior" is acceptable, but nothing exceptional. Jiménez is spelled "Jiminez"! The poem is somewhat trite to me, since I've taught it on more than one occasion.