The map is not the territory: towards a minor translation

Abstract In their 1980 book entitled Mille plateaux (Capitalisme et Schizophrénie), Deleuze and Guattari launch a number of concepts which are, in my view, of fundamental importance when translating texts written by those who live in a language that is not their own. Starting from such notions as ‘minor’, ‘rhizome’, or ‘deterritorialization’, my aim is to pave the way toward a nomadology which will help us become nomads and immigrants in relation to our own language, as they argue in their work on Kafka. Taking examples from contemporary ‘minor’ literature, I will examine the ethical consequences of translating those languages which remain a mixture, a schizophrenic mélange, in which very different functions of language and distinct centres of power are represented.