〈譯者使命〉（“Die Aufgabe des Übersetzers”）是瓦特‧班雅明（Walter Benjamin）翻譯並出版波特萊爾（Charles Baudelaire）《惡之花》（Les Fleur du mal）時的序言。自1960年代翻譯研究興起之際，這篇文章亦受到許多人文學科的注目與討論，文章中展現的獨特思想啟發了許多學者，成為其論述的靈感泉源。在閱讀班雅明文章時，文中許多重複的詞彙與句構交織成辯證式的邏輯，讓人似曾相識，卻難以用既有的概念順暢地閱讀。在閱讀班雅明其他文章之後，筆者發現，〈譯者〉一文屬於班雅明的早期學術書寫，語言哲學與形上學為其主要的關懷，與其他同期文章相較之下，有著非常類似的句式與論述模式。因此，本文試圖參考班雅明早期以語言哲學為主要關懷的其他兩篇文章〈論語言之究竟及論人的語言〉（“Über Sprache überhaupt und über die Sprache des Menschen＂）以及《德國悲悼劇的起源》的第一部分〈認識論批判序言〉（“Erkenntniskritische Vorrede”）為主要參照對象，比對其中的哲學書寫主張與特殊的書寫特色，期能為理解班雅明的思想作出更多的補充，並為翻譯班雅明提供更多的參考資料與準備。

Walter Benjamin's “Die Aufgabe des Übersetzers,” published 1923, was meant to serve as a preface for his Baudelaire translation as well as an advocation for his theological thoughts. After decades of neglect by his contemporaries, at the rise of translation studies in 1960s, this essay has become source of inspiration for scholars in different disciplines because of its avant-garde reflections and idiosyncratic style. However, it is also the reflective mode of discourse in this essay, with intricacies of philosophical intertextuality and dialectical tensions, which compound the difficulties of reception for posterity. In order to decipher the subversive and intricate significance of the enigmatic terms in Benjamin’s writing, I propose to observe Benjamin’s other early writings: the 1916 essay “Über Sprache überhaupt und über die Sprache des Menschen” and the “Erkenntniskritische Vorrede” of the 1925 Trauerspiel study as a whole, for they mark the peak of Benjamins early academic achievement and share the same traits of his metaphysical-philosophical strand of thinking. With a close comparison of the three writings, I aim to map the philosophical intertextualities in the writings, with the objective to present a more comprehensive account of Benjamin’s work, while providing in breadth and depth more possibilities for a re-reading and re-interpretation of Benjamin’s inspiring work.