Abstract: Translation has always, as it has been often argued, oscillated between a mechanical transfer of linguistic interpretation and a creative act of literary recreation. The contemporary theories challenge the formal view emphasizing interpretation, recreation of form and aesthetic responsibility of the act of translation. This research paper tries to analyse Hugo Friedrich’s very famous essay “On the Art of Translation”, originally delivered as a speech in German language at Heidelberg on 24th July, 1965, translated by Rainer Schulte and John Biguenet into English, published in an anthology titled Theories of Translation: An Anthology of Essays from Dryden to Derrida, edited by Rainer Schulte and John Biguenet, published by The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London in 1992. Through this essay, Friedrich argues that the translation of poetry is fundamentally an aesthetic and interpretive art, not a technique. Rejecting the notion of fidelity, he affirms the inseparability of the form and meaning in a given text and thus redefines the fidelity of the translator in view of the poetic intention. This research paper, by making a close analysis, examines Friedrich’s ideas of translation as an art, comparing with those of Dryden, Walter Benjamin and others. The research paper concludes stating how Friedrich established the aesthetic values of translation recognizing the translator as a re-creative agency.

Keywords: translation, art, criticism, recreation, mechanical, form, meaning.