Between appropriation and rejection: Translating D'Alembert into German, and D'Alembert on translation

During the 18th century, the translation of a large number of literary and scholarly genres was an intellectually engaging, and sometimes profitable, activity. On the other hand, the activity of translating has always been selective, and driven by specific agendas. Jean D'Alembert was both an object of translations, and a translator. The present article reviews the German-speaking reception of D'Alembert as a philosophe and representative of French Enlightenment by reviewing the translations of his texts into German. This review shows a highly selective and problematic approach to his philosophical OEuvre. In particular, we will discuss some of the obstacles presented by the German philosophical tradition for a more comprehensive reception of D'Alembert as a philosophe in the German-speaking world. Against this background, we briefly discuss D'Alembert's Observations sur l'art de traduire as expression of enlightened culture when it comes to an engagement with foreign ideas and authors.