Orhan Pamuk and the Limits of Translation: Foreignizing The Black Book for World Literature

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karim Mattar
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
English Translation ◽  
World Literature ◽  
Local History ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Black Book ◽  
Sociology Of Translation ◽  
English Translations ◽  
Linguistic Categories

This article questions the often all-too-readily adduced arguments and methodologies of translation theory with reference to the English translations of Orhan Pamuk's novel The Black Book as exemplary case studies. It argues that domestication and foreignization are problematic as linguistic categories. It then seeks to rework such intuitively forceful terms for a sociology of translation, suggesting that they regain their coherence when directed towards questions of reception. The reception of The Black Book in English translation has been dominated by domesticating readings that minimize or neglect Pamuk's engagement with local history in favour of stock categorizations of the novel in terms of postmodernism. Against such readings, a ‘foreignizing reading strategy’ is proposed, one that seeks to restore to interpretation something of Pamuk's engagement with the local, especially his treatment of Sufism and Hurufism. Translation theory, it is urged, can be more effectively and universally applied in literary studies when directed towards literary sociology rather than linguistic comparison.

Islam and the Limits of Translation: Orhan Pamuk and the Ottoman Revival

2020 ◽  
pp. 215-259
Author(s):  
Karim Mattar
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Black Book ◽  
Aesthetics And Politics ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
The Face ◽  
Orhan Pamuk ◽  
Anglo American

This chapter addresses the carefully (self-)cultivated image of Orhan Pamuk as a worldly, cosmopolitan, and secular-liberal writer. This image, I argue, has come to define the aesthetics and politics, the ethos, of his novels in their worldly reception, and has functioned to undermine the nature and extent of his engagement with the local (especially his native city, Istanbul, and its Ottoman, Islamic heritage). I trace this argument through a sustained focus on The Black Book as this novel has been translated and read in Britain and the United States. Drawing on translation theory, I show that both English versions of the novel are unable to capture the logic and significance of Pamuk’s culturally-specific use of language, and have influenced its Anglo-American (mis)reading as a postmodernist work. In my counter-reading, I argue that anything but a postmodernist deconstruction of myths of national and religious identity, The Black Book in fact comprises an evocation of Istanbul’s Ottoman, Islamic heritage in the face of a Turkish secular modernity by which this heritage was historically repressed. I detail this argument through close attention to Pamuk’s treatment of Sufism and Hurufism. The Black Book, I conclude, inscribes what I call “cultural neo-Ottomanism” as form.

scholarly journals A Study on the English Translation on Chapter Two of Tao Te Ching from the Perspective of Eco-Translatology: Lin Yutang’s and James Legge's Versions

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 01-04
Author(s):  
Peijie Yan ◽  
Yajun Zeng
Keyword(s):  
English Translation ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
Lao Tzu ◽  
Tao Te Ching ◽  
Spiritual Civilization ◽  
English Translations ◽  
Research Objects ◽  
Culture And Communication

Chu Culture includes material civilization and spiritual civilization created by Chu people in their working life, and it is an important part of Chinese civilization. Besides Lisao and Tianwen, Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu is also deeply influenced by Chu culture. Under the guidance of eco-translation theory, this paper takes Chapter two of Tao Te Ching as an example, selects Lin Yutang’s and James Legge’s translations as the research objects, and analyzes them from the perspectives of language, culture and communication, respectively. The purpose is to explore whether the eco-translation theory can apply to the previous English translations of Tao Te Ching, and to further understand the implicit relationship between Chu culture and Tao Te Ching.

scholarly journals Goethe’s “Welt” poet in Bengal: The Influence of World Literature on Jibanananda Das and other Bengali Poets of the 1930s-40s

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Firoze Basu
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
English Translation ◽  
World Literature ◽  
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe ◽  
Thomas Mann ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Original Form ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Bengali Literature ◽  
International Circulation

This study aims to establish a link between the concept of “Weltliteratur” or World Literature, in terms of the free movement of literary themes and ideas between nations in original form or translation, and the Bengali poets of the thirties and forties who actively translated French and German poets. It identifies Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's (1749-1832) concept of World Literature as a vehicle for the Kallol Jug poets. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe introduced the concept of “Weltliteratur” in a few of his essays in the first half of the nineteenth century to describe the international circulation and reception of literary works in Europe, including works of non-Western origin. My emphasis will be on Jibanananda Das (1899-1954) arguably the most celebrated poet in Bengali literature who was well versed in the contemporary Western Canons of Poetry. Jibanananda’s defamiliarization of the rural Bengal Landscape, his use of exotic foreign images owe a debt to contemporary European poets. Interestingly, Jibanananda had reviewed an English translation of German author Thomas Mann’s novel “Dr Faustus’ for a Bengali magazine “Chaturanga”. In the Bengali review he states that despite prevalent misconceptions (some critics considering the novel to be superior to the original Faust epic by Goethe) Goethe’s Faust was the first text to capture the hope, despair and crisis in the modern world and articulate it in such a manner that “true” literature of the age was created in its new light. In Jibanananda’s estimation, Thomas Mann deserves credit for treating the Faust legend in a unique and creative way.

scholarly journals Functions and properties of translation notes: comparative analysis: based on translations of Soboryane (the cathedral cleargy/Gens D`Eglise) by N. S. Leskov into French and English

2021 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 185-198
Author(s):  
Natalia S. Bruffaerts ◽  
Valeria A. Labko ◽  
Liudmila S. Sorokina
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
English Translation ◽  
Religious Discourse ◽  
English Text ◽  
French Translation ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
English Translations ◽  
French And English ◽  
Referential Function

The paper deals with a comparative analysis of notes to the French and English translations of The Cathedral Clergy by N. S. Leskov. It involves analyzing the language of the notes which determines their function. The neutral lexical and grammatical composition of the notes to the English text ensures their referential function while the use of deictic elements in the French notes, namely first-person pronouns, informs the latter ones a phatic function. The paper examines the objects of the notes, most of which relate to the religious discourse sphere. The study reveals the specifics of commenting which is more detailed in the English text. Special attention is paid to the notes related to fiction. A wide range of works is covered by the notes in the French translation, including those indirectly related to the text of the novel. The author also dwells on the notes concerning names and historical events, which turn out to be more informative in English translation and more affective in the French one.

Black Books and Brownies

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Milbank
Keyword(s):  
Historical Change ◽  
Religious Change ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Black Book ◽  
James Hogg ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Future

Scottish fiction about the Reformation is concerned with the mechanics of historical change, which are rendered through a series of enchanted books and people discussed in Chapter 8. In the novel, The Monastery, describing the Dissolution and Reformation, Scott gothicizes the Bible as a magic book and the White Lady as its guardian to dramatize the mysterious nature of religious change, the dependence of the future on a Gothic past, and the need for interpretation. In Old Mortality, Scott’s protagonist escapes the frozen dualities of Covenanter and Claverhouse, revealing historical change itself as problematic in Humean terms and requiring a leap of faith. James Hogg contests this presentation of the Covenanters by re-enchanting them as supposed brownies, as mediators of history and nature, and in his Three Perils of Man reprises Scott’s wizard Michael Scott pitted against Roger Bacon and his ‘black book’ the Bible to present the Reformation as an eternal reality.

Obtaining English translations of Russian publications in the Earth Sciences - an English view

1983 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. S. Miles
Keyword(s):  
Earth Sciences ◽  
English Translation ◽  
Language Barrier ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
English Translations ◽  
The Russian Language

SummaryA course of action is described for obtaining an English translation of a Russian geological text. It is suggested that the Russian ‘language barrier’ in this field is largely psychological.

On translating Emily Brontë’s style in Wuthering Heights into Arabic

Babel ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatima Muhaidat
Keyword(s):  
World Literature ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Considerable Effort ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Arabic Translation ◽  
Wuthering Heights

Abstract Translating Emily Brontë’s (1818–1848) Wuthering Heights (1847) into Arabic is a complex and multifaceted task. This paper explores the challenges involved in this task by discussing distinctive features of Brontë’s style and their counterparts in Mamdouh Haqqi’s Arabic translation of the novel. Stylistic features under focus include lexis, figurative language, and structure. As for Brontë’s lexis, it intricately knits elements like characters, setting, and themes. To take their readers to the unpredictable world of Wuthering Heights, translators try to find Arabic equivalents suggesting the associations and connotations of the Source Text (ST) style. Among the obstacles translators need to overcome are lexical gaps, as some lexicalized thoughts and experiences in English have no lexicalized equivalents in Arabic. Resorting to paraphrases may result in sacrificing the compactness of the source text (ST) and losing some shades of meaning. Further complications result from dealing with figurative language. Conveying Brontë’s imagery, personifications, and references to abstract notions in terms of material objects requires thoughtful consideration. Furthermore, the structure of Brontë’s language significantly expresses characters’ attitudes and other subtle traits. Less vivacious translations are expected when the function of expressions in the ST eludes translators’ attention. Throughout the discussion, suggestions are made to provide readers of the text in Arabic with better access to the ST. At the same time, the researcher acclaims Haqqi’s translation which reflects a considerable effort to make a landmark of English/world literature accessible to Arab readers.

THE FUTURE OF THE BULGARIAN ACADEMIC PERIODICALS – COMMUNITIES, DEBATES, AND INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE

2021 ◽  
pp. 85-90
Author(s):  
Kamen RIKEV
Keyword(s):  
English Translation ◽  
International Research ◽  
English Language ◽  
Academic Journals ◽  
The Future ◽  
English Translations ◽  
Publishing Houses ◽  
Internet Portals ◽  
Patron Saints

The paper discusses several formal aspects of submitting texts to foreign academic journals and publishing houses by Bulgarian authors. It argues that common issues concerning the editing of an author’s contribution include the English translation of a Bulgarian academic institution’s name, the use of quotation marks, the hyphen, en dash and em dash, the usage of glyphs, such as the numero symbol. The article also draws attention to the various transcription styles for Cyrillic texts, as well as the inconsistent forms of patron saints and city names used by Bulgarian institutions. A comparison between the Bulgarian names of six universities, their English translations and forms appearing in Wikipedia illustrates the problem of the often incomprehensible affiliation of a Bulgarian scholar outside the country. The author’s main conclusions are as follows: (1) an urgent need for a uniform spelling of Bulgarian university names in English; (2) based on the information on their official websites, Bulgarian institutions do not have official names in English, or such names cannot be easily traced; (3) clarification of the principles for recording the names of prominent personalities and especially saints, who have long been subject of international research; (4) a need for monitoring the consistent spelling of institution names appearing on the most popular internet portals. Finally, the author suggests 8 English language versions of the name Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”.

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