Target. International Journal of Translation Studies - Volume 13, Issue 1, 2001

This paper argues that the question of theoretical translatability is crucial both to source-oriented and target-oriented approaches. Reflecting on translatability requires a discussion of Toury’s notion of ‘adequate translation’, which has two senses: the general or ideal approximation to source-text norms, and the tertium comparationis represented by a source-text-oriented translation (i.e. showing how the original ‘can’ be translated). It is argued that both senses have heuristic value in Translation Studies. The explanatory power of target-orientedness is demonstrated by discussing the various strategies pursued by seven Anglo-American translators of Dante who either re-create or avoid rewriting grotesque onomastic wordplay in Inferno. Zero translation policy of Dante’s names is not considered to be evidence of their inherent ‘untranslatability’ since for an empiricist nothing is untranslatable. Evocative names may be translated in a creative way provided the rewriter is willing (or allowed) to be innovative.

Malgré le succès récent des Humour Studies et de la traductologie, la traduction de l’humour ne suscite pas souvent l’intérêt des chercheurs. La plupart des contributions traitent de la soi-disante «þ(in)traduisibilitéþ», qui se situerait aux niveaux «þculturelþ» et «þlangagierþ». Bien qu’en général les pensées soient empiriquement peu fondées et théoriquement déficientes, elles nous procurent une image plus concrète de ces difficultés de traduction culturelles et linguistiques. Pourtant, la «þcartographie culturelleþ» a tout intérêt à prendre l’humour traduit encore plus au sérieux: son absence ou présence et ses modalités se laissent lire comme des signes incontestables de frontières communautaires. La bibliographie élargie qu’offre cet article pourrait servir de point de départ d’une discussion plus articulée qui incorpore les résultats récents aussi bien des Humour Studies que de la traductologie.

The German comet’s tail of the Finnish Seitsemän veljestä by Aleksis Kivi — eight different translations by six translators — is spread out over the 20th century. As an exceptional case in Finnish-German translation history it provides attractive material for the translation historian interested in the historical dynamics of literary translation. This article sketches briefly the different profiles of these translations, points out the multiplicity of potential translation modes and goes on to explore the reasons for three translators’ actual choices by focusing on the socio-political situation of the translation event with its time-bound normative conditions.

Dans cet article on se propose de définir une nouvelle approche de la notion de ‘faute’ de traduction. Au lieu d’analyser la faute comme un élément donnant accès à la culture (à la performance, au savoir, à l’ignorance...) du traducteur ou de son public, on aborde ici ce genre d’opérations textuelles comme une contrainte, c’est-à-dire comme un mécanisme de lecture et d’écriture qui s’applique systématiquement à l’ensemble d’un écrit. En tant que contrainte, la faute apparaît comme un élément permettant une nouvelle compréhension du texte-source et comme un défi à l’élaboration de nouveaux textes-cibles. Bien que les exemples donnés soient tous littéraires, l’intérêt du mécanisme analysé dépasse le seul champ littéraire.

This paper explores the translational phenomenon of why so little of martial arts fiction has been translated into Western languages, compared to the copious amount into other Asian languages. Investigation into the translational migration of martial arts fiction demonstrates that the “normal” position assumed by translated literature tends to be a peripheral one. However, different patterns of behaviour can be observed, depending on the hegemonic relations between source and target cultures. In the West, martial arts fiction in English translation is being relegated to an extremely peripheral position. But martial arts fiction is able to make inroads into Asian countries, to the extent of stimulating a new literary form or (re)writing martial arts fiction in some indigenous languages.

Stuart Gilbert’s 1935 translation of André Malraux’s La Voie royale deploys an entire arsenal of translation techniques to rewrite and rework the text at the levels of lexis and syntax in ways which emphasise one dimension of the novel, and so give the impression that Gilbert was re-siting the work in a sub-system of English literature different from the location it occupied in the French literary system. The techniques he used and their effect on reception are analysed, as are his likely reasons for adopting such a specific translation posture, and, in particular, whether his approach is the result of a particular personality type, whether it can be seen as an example of a polysystem-governed adaptation, or whether it is a regime-bound translation.

This is a study of a “concealed translation” of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in Turkish. Ali Rıza Seyfi, who was known as an author and translator of historical fiction and books on Turkish history, produced a version of the novel under the title Kazıklı Voyvoda, which was published in 1928 and reprinted in 1946. Kazıklı Voyvoda combines the original gothic aspects with a Turkish nationalist discourse, exemplifying the kind of role translation can assume in the making of national identities. The article traces the matricial norms employed by Seyfi to reveal those of his additions to Dracula that resulted in a highly nationalist text. It is further pointed out that Kazıklı Voyvoda stands in a specific relationship with the notions of “national” and “nationalist” literature, which were rather topical around the time the text was published.