Galaktische Unübersetzbarkeit Fiktionen des Un_Übersetzten in der Science-Fiction

Science fiction is an ideal genre for the analysis of translation processes, both as part of a narrative – that is, in terms of a fictionalization of translation and translators within a text or a film – and as translation per se – that is, as translation of a certain narrative across different texts, contexts, epochs and media. As a narrative genre, science fiction not only stages sociological, political and economic concepts in a radical and very focused manner, but its worlds and its stories, especially those concerning space travel and extraterrestrial encounters, depend structurally on translational processes such as first-contact scenes and »galactic« plurilingualism. In this sense, science fiction is also an ideal genre for the examination of what we call here the »un_translated«. Drawing on Meir Sternberg’s conceptualization of »translational mimesis« – i.e. a series of strategies for the imitation of translation at a fictional level within a language-based medium – this essay will explore phenomena of untranslatability and, in particular, fictions of the un_translated within two epic narratives, Star Wars and Star Trek, whose similar level of popularity is counterpointed by two almost conflicting