Reinterpreting Benjamin’s Translational Constellation: A Quantum Field Perspective on Interpretive Entanglement in Classical Text Translation Networks

Abstract

This study offers a quantum field-theoretical reinterpretation of Walter Benjamin’s theory (Young-Jin 2005) of the “translational constellation,” positing that classical texts exist in a state of “interpretive entanglement” across linguistic and historical contexts. By developing a Translation Entanglement Metric (TEM) grounded in complex network analysis, the research uncovers non-local correlations among translations of the Daodejing (《道德经》), demonstrating that meaning emerges not from isolated interpretive acts but from the dynamic interplay of translational practices across time and space. Drawing on quantum hermeneutics, the study challenges the linear model of translation as a sequence of discrete events, reframing it instead as a quantum field where each translation functions simultaneously as a nodal entity and a wave of meaning, entangled with others in a non-hierarchical constellation. Case studies of Arthur Waley, James Legge, and Roger T. Ames’ translations of the Daodejing illustrate how TEM captures both semantic resonance and ideological dissonance, revealing that Benjamin’s “afterlife of the original” is best conceptualized as a quantum system of overlapping possibilities, where fidelity and creativity coexist in a state of superposition. This interdisciplinary approach establishes a quantum cognitive framework for translation studies, expanding the spatiotemporal dimensions and ontological implications of classical text interpretation.