Rednaxela Terrace: Hong Kong as Topos of Translation

Abstract

Dung Kai-cheung does not think of Hong Kong as a dystopia. He does, however, reimagine the city in Atlas as a Counterplace, a Commonplace, a Misplaced or Displaced Antiplace, a Nonplace, a Supertopia, Subtopia, Transtopia, Multitopia, Unitopia, Omnitopia, and perhaps even a Utopia. But all of these are translations, with sometimes infelicitous relations with their source texts. What gives? There is something utopic about translation: the story of the Tower of Babel implies that translation might give humanity a way to reach the feet of God, and for Walter Benjamin, translation offers access to a transcendental “pure language” beyond any individual human tongue. But the actual history of translation is perhaps more dystopic: mistranslations plaguing information transfer’s lofty aspirations, translators translating for chthonic purposes rather than higher goals, translators killed for disseminating information across language barriers… Taking inspiration from Dung Kai-cheung’s topography of Hong Kong, I will look at the utopias and dystopias of translation as played out in the maps and street signs of Hong Kong. (Whereas Dung’s theoretics are fictional, or even metafictional, my analysis will remain rooted in nonfiction). From transliteration (Kowloon) to mistransliteration (Mong Kok) to translation into English (North Point) to translation into Chinese (Kennedy Town) to misreadings (Rednaxela Terrace), the map and street signs of Hong Kong reveal a swarm of power imbalances in restless contention. Is this ultimately utopic, dystopic, or merely topical? My presentation will search for an answer.