1. 12. Style and literary translation
Lingua Inglese 2 LM

2. Literary genres The word “genre” has a different connotation
when applied to literature
Prose, poetry, drama
A literary genre (prose, poetry, drama) is different from non-literary genre (recipe, newsletter, article)
There are sub genres of prose (e.g. novella), poetry (e.g. haiku) and drama (e.g. farce)
Sub-genres can be adapted or translated or a mix of the two

3. Adapting v translating
There is a difference between adapting a literary text and translating it. Adaptation could mean taking an idea from a literary text and completely rewriting it, whereas translation refers directly to the language of the source text.

4. Adapting a literary genre
SAME SUB-GENRE IN TT ?
SAME EFFECT IN TT?
IS THE ST USED IN THE TT?
WHAT KIND OF LANGUAGE IN TT?

5. Adapting a literary genre
Commedia dell’arte
Carlo Goldoni
Servitore di due padroni
1743 Venice
Farce
Richard Bean
One Man Two
Guv’nors
1960’s Brighton

6. Equivalent effect (farce/comedy) –change in register?
ADAPTED to 1960’s Brighton
ST not used
SAME SUB-GENRE (FARCE)
SAME EFFECT (COMEDY)
MODERN LANGUAGE + DIALECT

7. Literary texts – general approach
Aesthetics more important than semantic equivalence
Understand perspective of the writer of the ST
Equivalent effect – same effect on readers of TT as on readers of ST; foreignisation may be needed

8. LITERARY TEXTS – specific approach
Analyse the ST
the quality of the analysis depends on the translator’s sensitivity and awareness of literary style and nuance; knowledge of ST culture
Make TT choices in accordance with general approach and ST analysis
Pay special attention to specific linguistic areas ……..

9. Alliteration
Repetition of the same sound at the beginning of consecutive words
“The surrender of her weary ghost to the keeping of stars and sea was stirring like the sight of a glorious triumph.”
From Joseph Conrad’s “Youth”
“Surely no spirit or sense of a soul that was soft to the spirit and soul of our senses
Sweetens the stress of surprising suspicion that sobs in the semblance of sound and a sigh...”
Charles Swinburne’s “Nephelidia”

10. Allusion An implied or indirect reference
Writers often allude to well-known texts/people in their works to give a sharper edge to the point they are making.
Four types of allusions are likely to occur regularly in literature written in English: biblical, classical, cultural, and literary

11. Allusions
Biblical:
“Decency forbade that he should take the door off its rickety hinges, like Samson at the gates of Gaza.”
Classical:
“Of those pedestrian Paphians who abound
In decent London when the daylight is o’er.”

12. Allusions Cultural “Sexual intercourse began In nineteen sixty-three
(Which was rather late for me)—
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles’ first LP.”

13. Allusions
Literary
“All night the dread less Angel unpursu’d
Through Heav’ns wide Champain held his way, till Morn,
Wak’t by the circling Hours, with rosie hand
Unbarr’d the gates of Light. There is a Cave
Within the Mount of God, fast by his Throne” (Milton)
“dread less Angel” = “Abdiel”, a fearless angel
“circling Hours” = “The Horae”, daughters of Zeus and Themis - “Thallo (Spring), Auxo (Summer) and Carpo (Fall)
“ with rosie hand” = “rosy fingered dawn” (Odyssey 2)

14. Foreign words “The calm Madonna o’er your head
Smiles, col bambino, on the bed
Where but your chaste ears I must spare
Where, as we said, vous faites votre affaire.”
Arthur Hugh Clough
How do you deal with the idea of foreigness in the ST
when the SL is already foreign to the reader?
How do you get an equivalent effect of foreigness?

15. Grammar and syntax
Writers sometimes deviate from the accepted grammatical usage of their time for different reasons.
“Says gorging Jim to guzzling Jacky
We have no wittles, so we must eat we.”
How do you deal with ungrammatical usage in the ST ? You want to maintain the strangeness of the changed syntax (equivalent effect) but if you change synytax too much a text quickly becomes unintelligible.

16. Metaphor and wordplay
storm in a teacup = tempesta in un bicchere d’acqua
Here the translation is easy? But what about the more
obscure, literary uses of metaphor?
“...the animal within me licking the chops of memory.”
“a smile coyly bridged the crack in the door.”
How do you translate unusual metaphors when
there is no direct ST-TT equivalent?

17. Metaphor and wordplay - advertising
Advertising is a non-literary text which often makes use of literary effects through word play that exploits polysemy, homonymy and metaphor:
Your eyes will fall in love with new 1-day ACUVUE contact lenses. Arrange a date today. 1-Day ACUVUE. Johnson & Johnson.
Trust our blend of herbs and spices to get you out of a stew. Are your dishes tired, run down, depressed? Take heart. The chefs at Knorr have just the remedy. Eight different stock cubes created with one thing in mind. To enliven everyday meals …..

18. Metaphor and wordplay - advertising
Advertising is a non-literary text which often makes use of literary effects through word play that exploits polysemy, homonymy and metaphor:
Your eyes will fall in love with new 1-day ACUVUE contact lenses. Arrange a date today. 1-Day ACUVUE. Johnson & Johnson.
Trust our blend of herbs and spices to get you out of a stew. Are your dishes tired, run down, depressed? Take heart. The chefs at Knorr have just the remedy. Eight different stock cubes created with one thing in mind. To enliven everyday meals …..

19. IDIOMS
Fig.6 An example of a visual Pun taken from Calvin & Hobbes

20. PUNS

22. Names/culture-specific words
There is often the same difficulty of translating name and
culture -specific words in literary texts as there is in non-literary
texts
[...] and presently the porter and the Tramp Major brought our supper across from the workhouse. 173
Old ‘Grandpa’, a tramp of seventy who made his living, or a great part of it, by collecting cigarette ends and selling the tobacco
‘The Doctor’—he was a real doctor, who had been struck off the register for some offence
Shorty’s procedure was to stop out- side a pub and play one tune...
[...] and the other, a hairy, uncouth animal whom we called the Magyar... 71
My Little Cherished Wolf George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London

23. Names/culture-specific words
There is often the same difficulty of translating name and
culture -specific words in literary texts as there is in non-literary
texts
[...] and presently the porter and the Tramp Major brought our supper across from the workhouse. 173
Old ‘Grandpa’, a tramp of seventy who made his living, or a great part of it, by collecting cigarette ends and selling the tobacco
‘The Doctor’—he was a real doctor, who had been struck off the register for some offence
Shorty’s procedure was to stop out- side a pub and play one tune...
[...] and the other, a hairy, uncouth animal whom we called the Magyar... 71
My Little Cherished Wolf George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London

24. Chicken pox

25. Neologisms
Sometimes writers invent new words to strengthen the illocutionary power of their texts.
“Moreunder, which is to subtract, not add...”
“A sharp fragillycut nose”

26. Neologisms
Sometimes writers invent new words to strengthen the illocutionary power of their texts.
“Moreunder, which is to subtract, not add...”
“A sharp fragillycut nose”

27. Poetic register
A style of writing that exhibits a fairly dense poetic register in relatively few words, stanzas, or paragraphs:
“Morning dawned at last, slowly, with a pale yellow dome of light rising silently above the bluffs, which stand like a huge storm-devastated castle, just east of the city.”

28. Rhyme and Meter
Rhyme:
identical stressed vowels and the consonants succeeding them at the end of a word
Meter:
systematically arranged and measured rhythm in verse
Both rhyme and meter are very difficult to translate, especially into languages with a different vowel and consonant distribution.

29. Literary translation – linguistic questions
There are a number of linguistic areas that literary
translators need to be sensitive to:
alliteration
allusion
foreign words
grammar and syntax
metaphor and wordplay
names
neologisms
poetic register
rhyme and metre

30. Sources
Landers, Clifford (2001) Literary Translation: A Practical Guide. UK: Cromwell Press Ltd.
Lefevere, André (1992) Translating Literature: Practice and Theory in a Comparative Literature Context. New York: MLA of America.