A literary work – Translation and original: A conceptual analysis within the philosophy of art and Translation Studies

Author(s):  
Leena Laiho
Target ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leena Laiho

The focus of this paper lies on the translatability of a literary work of art. The phenomenon is approached as a conceptual challenge subsumed under the question Can the identity of a literary work of art be retained when the work is translated? Since the question of translatability as posed here belongs to the realm of philosophy of art, the problematic nature of ‘original’, ‘translation’ and ‘identity’ is discussed first in the theoretical context of analytic philosophy. I then consider the issue within the framework of Translation Studies. By showing the definitional diversity the necessity of contextual embedding and theoretical explicitness is highlighted. A genuine exchange of ideas and views, between and within disciplines, presupposes conceptual transparency.


Author(s):  
Endre Kiss

Gadamer’s hermeneutic philosophy avoids the problem of literary objectiveness altogether. His approach witnesses the general fact that an indifference towards literary objectiveness in particular, leads to a peculiar neglect of par excellence literariness as such. It seems obvious, however, that the constitutive aspects of the crisis of literary objectiveness cannot be shown to contain the underlying intention of bringing about this situation. At this point, one can identify what could probably be the most important element in a definition of literary objectiveness. In contrast to ‘natural’ objectiveness and objectiveness based on various societal conventions, the legitimacy of a literary work is solely guaranteed by its elements being organized in accordance with the rules of literary objectiveness. Thus when the crisis of literary objectiveness intensifies, literariness will also find itself in a crisis. This crisis detaches new, quasi-literary formations from various definitions of literariness. When literary objectiveness ceases, however, to be understood as a system constituted by various objective formations aiming to correspond in one way or another to the ‘world’, scientific analysis of literary objectiveness will be rendered impossible. The crisis of literary objectiveness thus brings about the crisis of the theory of literature and the philosophy of art. Gadamer explicitly argues that the scientific approach proves to be inadequate in the analysis of artistic experience. This attitude results in the categorical rejection of a scientific orientation (and so in a complete indifference towards literary objectiveness), but he seems to overemphasize an otherwise correct thesis on the non-reflexive character of artistic experience. It is the anti-mimetic and Platonic character of Gadamer’s aesthetic hermeneutics that determines the status of literary (artistic) objectiveness in his system of thought. What is of crucial importance, however, is to point out that this aesthetics entails a fundamental reduction of the significance of literary objectiveness. As soon as the essence of aesthetic object-constitution is taken to be re-cognition (plus the emanating aesthetic possibilities), the absolutely natural interest in the original object represented by a work of art.Undoubtedly, Gadamer’s conception answers a number of questions that tend to be ignored by other theories. It is just as obvious, however, that Gadamer completes here the aesthetic devaluation of the objective domain. It is not the characteristics of the ‘original’ that constitute the image, but in effect the image turns the original into an original. Paraphrasing this claim one arrives at a near paradox: not objectiveness makes a work of art possible, but a work of art lends objects their objectiveness.


Author(s):  
Leyla Ilyas Hamidova

The article deals with one of the main and actual problems of modern translation studies - the transformation of sustainable word complexes, namely, the principles of translating SWC through the prism of the linguocognitive aspect. An attempt is made to reveal the main linguistic and translation aspects of the transformation process through the prism of the communicative function of these units in the context. Using examples that demonstrate the versatility of metaphorical thinking, the depth of the translation process is revealed, taking into account the comparison of the cognitive, cultural and pragmatic aspects of languages. By highlighting specific phenomena, each author of a work of art conceptualizes the world, filling the realities of existence with meanings, thereby constructing their own reality. The article proves that in the process of translation there is a problem of correlation of concepts presented in the USC, expressed in the relations of "content plan" and "expression plan", and related discursive possibilities for comparing these semantic categories in the translation language. Given this fact, it is possible to linguistically confirm many of the provisions concerning the content of the SWC concept. Namely, drawing a parallel between different ways of thinking, the comparison of certain concepts "spills out" the irregularities of the linguistic-cognitive worldview, that is, in order to identify these discrepancies, the article provides a conceptual analysis of options by comparing two different languages.


2020 ◽  

The paper focuses on the specifics of reproducing nonce units coined by the author of the original literary work into Ukrainian. Nonce formations are topical and promising object of translation studies due to the whole range of reasons. First, a variety of their representations is of great interest in terms of their interpreting. In most cases, interpretation of nonce units is complicated as their morphemic structure is vague. Second, nonce units belong to the words with no direct equivalents in other languages, which greatly complicates the ways of their reproducing in the target language. Thus, dealing with each particular nonce formation in the source language, the translator has to apply non-standard approaches to selecting/coining its equivalent in the target language. So, the great contribution of the translator, his/her importance compared to that of the author of the literary work is proven. Ulysses abounds with nonce formations, making the whole piece of writing extremely challenging for translators. We classify Joyce’s nonce formations by their word-building patterns into two groups: phonographic (coined by means of combining phonemes) and morphological (coined by means of random combining morphemes or their segments). This makes it possible to conclude that the morphological structure of nonce units impacts both interpreting and coining their equivalents. However, the universal approach or strategy to their reproducing in the target language does not exist. In every case the translator should take into account the whole range of factors including but not limited to rendering pragmatic intentions of the author of the original literary work and uniqueness of his/her individual style. While reproducing nonce words of the novel Ulysses into Ukrainian, in most cases translators applied calque (loan translation) and compensation rather than transcoding. Their choice of the domestication strategy can be explained by their attempts to make one of the most difficult novels more accessible to Ukrainian readers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (16) ◽  
pp. 118-124
Author(s):  
O.V. Minenko

The article attempts to reveal the main receptive-aesthetic principles of artistic translation from the point of view of comparative studies. The analysis of the views of the researchers D.Nalyviayko, V.Izer, G.Yaus as to proposed subject is presented. Characteristic features of the artistic translation in the system of comparative studies are highlighted and described. On the basis of the research it was established that the perception of the artistic work is determined on the basis of the work of understanding the original text, that is, as a result of the dialogue between the text and the translator; as a manifestation of the hidden meaning that passes through the translation consciousness. Each new translation of the work acquires a relative autonomy; it carries something unique in its own right, created by the translator-writer. The creative person of the translator inevitably influences the translated work, which is perceived by the reader through the prism of his person. During the translation of a literary work belonging to a certain national culture and created by appropriate means of the linguistic and stylistic systems, one can reflect the phenomena inherent in the national artistic consciousness. The article describes the content of the concept of "perception", which is dynamic, since the perception continues until new translations, new translation studies appear. As each artwork is a holistic ideological and creative structure in which individual parts interact organically and form an inseparable unity, all elements of this structure are open to the reader, and in the process of cognition are realized in different ways in his mind.


Author(s):  
Тарас Шмігер

Panteleimon Kulish’s views on translation were based on his own experience of translations and shaped under the infl uence of contemporary Ukrainian translation practice and scholarly thought (observations by H. Kvitka-Osnovianenko, P. Hulak-Artemovskyi, Ya. Holovatskyi, and M. Maksymovych; biblical texts in translation of P. Hulak-Artemovskyi, M. Maksymovych, V. Aleksandrov, and P. Morachevskyi), as well as the German translation studies (ideas of J. Herder, W. Humboldt, F.Schleiermacher, and A. Schlegel). The Ukrainian critic’s understanding corresponds to the views of other Slavonic authors: some Czech critics considered translation as a significant power for creating a new literature and nation and saw the roots of this strength in the language, but more detailed criteria for evaluating translation quality weren’t discussed yet; Russian researchers emphasized the significance of the author’s approach for the correct translation of his/her writings. P. Kulish considered the problems of reproducing the identity of the text much deeper, drawing attention to what makes any translation a different literary work and how the text may or should be modified with respect to the specific features of the reader’s perception. In terms of translation studies of the time, P. Kulish regarded the “poetic spirit and composition” of the text as the main criteria of the equivalent translation. However, the term ‘composition’ does not only designate the formal structure of a text. It is related to the concept that the form is shaped by the language and specific lingual means as well.  P. Kulish was aware of the semantic problems of translation, but available linguistic knowledge of the time didn’t offer proper terms for their description. In addition, P. Kulish was actually one of the first (if not the first) to introduce into Ukrainian translation studies the term ‘untranslatable’, which became very popular in the theoretical and critical discussions of the 20th century.


Target ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Chesterman

Abstract Conceptual analysis has a role to play in translation studies, but it is a means, not an end. An empirical paradigm gives central importance to testable hypotheses. Empirical research on translation profiles should result in a translation typology: one such typology is discussed. Translations have multiple causes, and we can already propose some possible causal laws. Three laws of translation effect are also proposed, and various parameters of effect are discussed, together with the associated problems of sampling and prescriptivism. I argue that prescriptive statements are hypotheses about translation effects; as such, they should be tested like any other hypothesis.


Babel ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Harris

The term <i>traductologie</i> was coined in the early 1970s to correspond to the establishment of translation as a valid object of scientific and academic study. Its English equivalent is usually <i>translation studies</i> but sometimes translatology.<p>Traductologie has two conceptual levels: the metalevel of study and analysis and the object level of what is thus examined, namely translations and translating. Both levels are variegated. The metalevel can usefully be mapped into broad ‘paradigms’ or disciplinary approaches: literary, linguistic, semiotic, philosophical, historical, lexico-terminological, automated (MT), prescriptive and pedagogical, scientific-experimental, text and corpus oriented, process oriented, social etc. The object level is traditionally divided between written translation and oral translation (<i>interpretation</i>), and the former is often categorized by ‘text types’.<p>Permutations of the meta and object categories characterize different varieties of traductologie. When discoursing about it, one should be aware that a statement that is meaningful in one variety may be meaningless in another.<p>


2019 ◽  
pp. 102-108

It is also relevant to study and translate our ancestors’ heritage nowadays. The classicalwork “Baburname” was translated into English for several times, and it has undergone thehistory of translation. “Baburname” was translated and published by European orientalistscholars John Leyden and William Erskine (1826), Anette Susannah Beveridge (1921) andWheeler Thackston (1996). Nowadays, these three types of translations are researched incomparative literature, comparative linguistic and translation studies. It's noteworthy that“Baburname” comprises more than ten disci plines related to linguistic and translational texts.In this article a conceptual analysis of religious termsto go to the God’s Mercy, to accomplishthe God’s judgementand phraseological unitto say boo to a gooseare studied. The comparativeanalysis of phraseological units, their differences and similarities in translation are reveale.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-95
Author(s):  
Wenjie Li

Abstract The influences that translational practice has on other social systems, especially literary polysystems have been attracting scholarly attention from both inside and outside translation studies. Translational activities are considered as a kind of cultural importation bringing new genres and styles of writing to the literary target polysystem. Besides, translation is also believed to be an integral means of canon formation, not only introducing a foreign literary work to the target audience but also making its way to the centre, that is the canon of the target literary polysystem. The present article will suggest a mechanism of canonization of translated literature on the basis of the investigation of influential factors in translation. The mechanism will then be applied to a historical review of the Chinese translations of H. C. Andersen’s tales, hoping to offer some insights into the dynamics and complexity of the canonization of translated literature and the roles that translational activities play in the process. The article also attempts to show that historical accounting of translation should be humanist. Perspectives taken by the narrator and other human factors are vital for the composition of a history of translation.


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