scholarly journals (Un)translatability revisited: transmetic and intertextual puns in Viktor Pelevin’s Generation “P” and its translations

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman Ivashkiv

Babylen Tatarsky, the protagonist in Russian writer Viktor Pelevin's novel Generation “P” (translated into English by Andrew Bromfield as Homo Zapiens), works to adapt American advertisements for the Russian market and witnesses how the reality of Russia’s tumultuous 1990s is replaced by a consumer-driven television simulation. Puns in the advertising slogans that Tatarsky translates, interspersed throughout Generation “P”, are central to its plot. Some of these puns exhibit greater sophistication than others: in addition to utilizing homonymy, homophony, homography, paronymy, and polysemy, they involve transmesis, multilingualism, and intertextuality. This article compares how Pelevin’s translators (English, German, Polish, Spanish, and French) approached these difficult puns. The objective of this comparative analysis is to demonstrate how the intertext(s) evoked through wordplay may, on the one hand, impede translation, but, on the other, open avenues for creative solutions, by producing new traces and echoes of meaning that make the act of translation possible. The issues raised by the various translations point to a need to re-examine the roles and tasks of the translator and underscore the importance of keeping the (un)translatability debate open. Ultimately, this article aims to contribute to the ongoing reconceptualization of what literary translation is and, especially, what it does: with texts, readers, literatures, and, above all, with language.

2021 ◽  
pp. 016344372110227
Author(s):  
Yingzi Wang ◽  
Thoralf Klein

This paper examines the changes and continuities in TV representations of Chinese Communist Party’s revolutionary history and interprets them within the broader context of China’s political, economic and cultural transformations since the 1990s. Drawing on a comparative analysis of three state-sponsored TV dramas produced between the late 1990s and mid-2010s, it traces how the state-sanctioned revolutionary narratives have changed over time in response to the Party’s propaganda imperatives on the one hand, and to the market-oriented production environment on the other. The paper argues that while recent TV productions in the new century have made increasing concessions to audience taste by adopting visually stimulating depictions and introducing fictional characters as points of identification for the audience, the revolutionary narratives were still aligned with the Party’s propaganda agenda at different times. This shows the ongoing competition between ideological and commercial interests in Chinese TV production during the era of market reforms.


Author(s):  
Fareed Moosa

Sections 45 and 63 of the Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 (TAA) confer drastic information gathering powers on officials of the South African Revenue Service (SARS). On the one hand, section 45 permits warrantless routine (non-targeted) and non-routine (targeted) inspections by a SARS official in respect of records, books of accounts and documents found at premises where a taxpayer is reasonably believed to be conducting a trade or enterprise. The purpose of such inspection is to determine whether there has been compliance with specific obligations by the taxpayer. Section 63, on the other hand, permits, on the grounds of urgency and expediency in exceptional circumstances only, warrantless non-routine (targeted) searches by a senior SARS official of a taxpayer and of third parties associated with a taxpayer, as well as searches of a taxpayer's premises and those of third parties. In addition, section 63 permits the seizure of relevant material found at premises searched. All searches and seizures must occur for the purposes of the efficient and effective administration of tax Acts generally. A comparative analysis of sections 45 and 63 of the TAA reveals the existence of key differences in the substance and practical operation of their provisions. This article distils these differences through an in-depth discussion of the nature and extent of the powers of inspection and search conferred by these provisions, as well as by conceptualising the terms “inspection” and “search” for the purposes of sections 45 and 63 respectively.    


Author(s):  
Duangui Wang

Formulation of the problem. In the chamber-vocal genre, the composer exists in two images: he is both the interpreter of the poetic composition and the author of a new synthetic music and poetic composition. The experience of the style analysis of one of the best examples of Ukrainian vocal lyrics of the first third of the 20th century shows that the cycle op. 20 characterizes the mature style of the composer, which was formed, on the one hand, under the influence of European Romanticism. On the other hand, the essence of the Ukrainian “branch” of the Western European song-romance (“solo-singing”) is revealed by the prominent national song-romance intonation, filled with not only a romantic worldview, but also with some personal sincerity, chastity, intimate involvement with the great in depth and simplicity poetry line, read from the individual position of the musician. The paradox is as follows. Although Pushkin’s poetry is embodied in a “holistic adequacy” (A. Khutorskaya), and the composer found the fullest semantic analogue of the poetic source, however, in terms of translating the text into the Ukrainian language, the musical semantics changes its intonation immanence, which naturally leads to inconsistency of the listeners’ position and ideas about the style of Russian romance. We are dealing with inter-specific literary translation: Pushkin’s discourse creates the Ukrainian romance style and system of figurative thinking. The purpose of the article is to reveal the principle of re-semantization of the intonation-figurative concept of the vocal composition by V. Kosenko (in the context of translating Pushkin’s poetry into the Ukrainian language) in light of the theory of interspecific art translation. Analysis of recent publications on the topic. Among the most recent studies of Ukrainian musicology, one should point out the dissertation by G. Khafizova (Kyiv, 2017), in which the theory of modelling of the stylistic system of the vocal composition as an expression of Pushkin’s discourse is described. The basis for the further stylistic analysis of V. Kosenko’s compositions is the points from A. Hutorska’s candidate’s thesis; she develops the theory of interspecific art translation. The types of translation of poetry into music are classified according to two parameters. The exact translation creates integral adequacy, which involves the composer’s finding a maximally full semantic analogue of the poetic source. The free translation is characterized by compensatory, fragmentary, generalized-genre adequacy. Presenting the main material. The Zhitomir period for Viktor Kosenko was the time of the formation of his creative style. Alongside the lyrical imagery line, the composer acquired one more – dramatic, after his mother’s death. It is possible that the romances on the poems of A. Pushkin are more late reflection of this tragic experience (op. 20 was created in 1930). “I Loved You” opens the vocal cycle and has been dedicated by A. V. Kosenko. The short piano introduction contains the intonation emblem of the love-feeling wave. The form of the composition is a two part reprising (А А1) with the piano Introduction and Postlude. The semantic culmination is emphasized by the change of metro-rhythmic organization 5/4 (instead of 4) and the plastic phrase “as I wish, that the other will love you” sounding in the text. Due to these melodies (with national segments in melo-types, rhythm formulas and harmony) V. Kosenko should be considered as “Ukrainian Glinka”, the composer who introduced new forms and “figures” of the love language into the romantic “intonation dictionary”. In general, V. Kosenko’s solo-singing represents the Ukrainian analogue of Pushkin’s discourse – the theme of love. The melos of vocal piece “I Lived through My Desires” is remembered by the broad breath, bright expression of the syntactic deployment of emotion. On the background of bass ostinato, the song intonation acquires a noble courage. This solo-singing most intermediately appeal to the typical examples of the urban romance of Russian culture of the 19th century. “The Raven to the Raven” – a Scottish folk ballad in the translation by A. Pushkin. V. Kosenko as a profound psychologist, delicately transmits the techniques of versification, following each movement of a poetic phrase, builds stages of the musical drama by purely intonation means. The semantics of a death is embodied through the sound imaging of a black bird: a marching-like tempo and rhythm of the accompaniment, with a characteristic dotted pattern in a descending motion (like a raven is beating its wings). The middle section is dominated by a slow-motion perception of time space (Andante), meditative “freeze” (size 6/4). The melody contrasts with the previous section, its profile is built on the principle of descending move: from “h1” to “h” of the small octave (with a stop on S-harmony), which creates a psychologically immersed state, filled by premonition of an unexpected tragedy. In general, the Ukrainian melodic intonation intensified the tragic content of the ballad by Pushkin. The musical semantics of V. Kosenko’s romances is marked by the dependence on the romantic “musical vocabulary”, however, it is possible to indicate and national characteristics (ascending little-sixth and fifth intervals, which is filled with a gradual anti-movement; syllabic tonic versification, and other). Conclusion. The romances (“solo-singings”) by V. Kosenko belongs to the type of a free art translation with generalized-genre adequacy. There is a re-semantization of poetic images due to the national-mental intonation. Melos, rhythm, textural presentation (repetitions), stylization of different genre formulas testify to the rare beauty of Kosenko’s vocal style, spiritual strength and maturity of the master of Ukrainian vocal culture. Entering the “Slavic song area”, the style of Ukrainian romance, however, is differenced from the Russian and common European style system of figurative and intonation thinking (the picture of the world).


2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donatella Porta ◽  
Dieter Rucht

Environmental movements and their activities are studied from various angles, by different methods, and at different levels. While both detailed studies on single incidents of conflict and broad overviews of movements are available, relatively little work has been done at the intermediate level between these extremes. We argue that it is fruitful to engage at this level by undertaking comparative analysis of environmental campaigns. Such studies could help deal with inconclusive observations and findings on the changes of environmental movements during the last three decades. We hypothesize that indeed environmental activism has changed remarkably. By and large, conflicts are no longer marked by a relatively simple constellation of one challenger facing one target or opponent. Instead, we find a complex web of involved actors reaching from local to international levels. These actors tend to form broad alliances, and to link on different issues. Also, their activities are not restricted to only one arena or strategy but involve all available channels, arenas, and action repertoires to have an impact. Quite often, we observe loose coalitions of groups that act in an implicit division of labor, thereby playing on their respective backgrounds, foci, and experiences. Given the variety of actors, their organizational forms and tactics on the one hand and their different contexts on the other, it is unlikely that a common pattern of conflict will emerge across various issues and geographical areas. This is all the more true when comparing environmental conflicts in the Western and Non-Western world.


Author(s):  
Елена Николаевна Мозжегорова ◽  
Елена Николаевна Засецкова

Настоящая статья посвящена исследованию проблемы перевода англоязычного заголовка на русский язык с целью выявления его особенностей и привлекаемых переводческих приемов. Авторами подчеркивается актуальность проведенного исследования ввиду растущей потребности быстрого и качественного перевода публицистических текстов и собственно заголовков как ключевого элемента публикации. В работе приводятся определения понятия «заголовок»; выделяются его функции; подчеркивается противоречивый характер заголовка: он может выступать как самостоятельная речевая единица и как равноправный элемент произведения; раскрываются особенности англоязычного заголовка, а также особенности газетно-информационного стиля современного английского языка. Авторы подробно рассматривают переводческие трансформации, привлекаемые для перевода англоязычных заголовков на русский язык, на примере заголовков периодических изданий Великобритании и США. На основе сравнительно-сопоставительного анализа текстов оригинала и перевода авторам удалось выявить лексические, грамматические и стилистические особенности, используемые в англоязычных газетных изданиях. В статье отмечается ключевая роль заголовка в произведении, а также факт особой ответственности в части перевода данного элемента произведения, поскольку именно корректно составленный и переведенный заголовок обеспечивает привлекательность и конкурентоспособность публикации в целом. The article is devoted to the problem of translation of English headlines into Russian to identify headline peculiarities and employed translation shifts. The authors stress the relevance of the conducted study due to the growing need for quick and high quality translation of social-political texts and headlines playing a key role in them. The paper provides a number of definitions for the term «headline»; points out the functions of the headline; stresses the controversial character of the headline: on the one hand, it is an independent speech unit, and on the other hand, it can be treated as an equal element of a text; identifies the peculiarities of English headlines as well as the peculiarities of the newspaper style of the modern English language. The authors look into the translation transformations employed when translating English headlines into Russian as exemplified by the British and American periodicals. Basing on the comparative analysis of the source texts and translations, the authors managed to identify some lexical, grammar, and stylistic peculiarities employed in the English newspapers. The article also notes the key role of the headline and the significance of its translation since it is a correctly composed and then translated headline which provides the attractiveness and competitiveness of a published work.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-205
Author(s):  
Imre Tarafás

The study offers a comparative analysis of historical grand récits written during the period of the Austro–Hungarian Empire in the imperial center, Hungary and Bohemia. On the one hand, the study focuses on different strategies of legitimizing the existence of the empire from Austro-German historians and, on the other, on how compatible these historical visions were with those of Hungarian and Czech scholars. Rather than seeing “imperial” and “national” histories as isolated, by genre different narratives, our aim is to study them as community histories which have serious implications for each other: smaller (national) community histories for the larger (imperial) community, and vice versa. The study does not only rely on the analysis of these community histories, but aims to situate them in the larger context of the historical argumentation of the contemporary political discourse, as well as the central notions with which loyalty to Austria could be expressed. According to the conclusion of the study, there is no discernible common ground for Austro-German historians in terms of defining the mission and essence of Austria or even for basic notions describing the empire’s past. Also, their definitions of crucial notions such as the “nation” significantly contradicted the major Hungarian master narratives.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 728-738
Author(s):  
E. E. Nechvaloda ◽  

Introduction: the article is devoted to the analysis of the early sources on the Udmurt ancient woman headwear. The chronological framework of the study is limited, on the one hand, by the very first confirmation of the ayshon (XVI century), and on the other hand, by the era of the first expeditions in Russia (XVIII century), which laid the foundation for future ethnographic research. Objective: to determine the degree of reliability and informativity of descriptions and images of the Udmurt headwear of the XVI–XVIII centuries. Research materials: works of travelers of the XVI–XVIII centuries, containing data about ayshon. Results and novelty of the research: the article provides a comparative analysis of materials about ayshon in the sources of the XVI–XVIII centuries. Texts, engravings with texts, and early sources with ethnographic materials of the end of the XIX – beginning XX centuries are compared. For the first time, all original graphic images and descriptions of this headwear related to the specified time period are published together. The characteristics of the ayshon in the descriptions generally correspond to each other, as well as its known images and later ethnographic data. The materials of the article can be used in ethnographic and source studies.


Author(s):  
Ljiljana Blagojevic

Abstract: The paper examines correlations of architectural culture in Serbia with modern ideas of the twentieth century that were engendered through engagement with concepts originated by Le Corbusier. Based on analysis of primary sources, the paper examines the dichotomy vernacular – modern as a critical point of this correlation. For instance, what was the significance of vernacular or folklore heritage, that Charles-Édouard Jeanneret traced in Serbia in 1911, and how did its value became part of the foundational discourse of the modern movement? What kind of relation to Le Corbusier’s doctrines were forged by modern architects in Serbia of the interwar years, and which lessons learned in his Parisian atelier by collaborators from the late 1930s had been transmitted far and wide in socialist Yugoslavia’s urban planning? This paper focuses on comparative analysis of direct material evidence of sources on the one side and interpretations on the other, with the aim to show more clearly a two-way working of sources, reception and selective transmission through architectural thinking and design process. In sum, the argumentation will aim to elucidate the processes of acknowledgment, emulation, idealization, analytical probing, dogmatization, critique and annihilation of Le Corbusier’s ideas in the long march of modernism’s emancipation and decline in Serbia over the course of the twentieth century. Resumen: El artículo examina las correlaciones de la cultura arquitectónica en Serbia con ideas modernas del siglo XX que se generaron a través de los conceptos originados por Le Corbusier. Basado en el análisis de fuentes primarias, el artículo examina la dicotomía vernácula - moderna como un punto crítico de esta correlación. Por ejemplo, ¿cuál fue la importancia del patrimonio vernáculo o folclore, que Charles-Édouard Jeanneret trazó en Serbia en 1911, y cómo se convirtió su valor en una parte del discurso fundamental del movimiento moderno? ¿Qué tipo de relación con las doctrinas de Le Corbusier se forjaron por los arquitectos modernos en Serbia de los años de entreguerras, y qué lecciones aprendidas en su taller parisino por los colaboradores de la década de 1930 habían sido transmitidas en la planificación urbana de Yugoslavia socialista? Por un lado, este documento se centra en el análisis comparativo de pruebas materiales directas de fuentes, y por el otro lado de la interpretación, con el objetivo de mostrar más claramente dos maneras de trabajo de las fuentes, la recepción y transmisión selectiva a través del pensamiento arquitectónico y proceso de diseño. En síntesis, la argumentación tratará de dilucidar los procesos de reconocimiento, la emulación, la idealización, la investigación analítica, dogmatización, la crítica y la aniquilación de las ideas de Le Corbusier en la larga marcha de la emancipación de la modernidad y el declive de la misma en Serbia en el transcurso del siglo XX.  Keywords: Le Corbusier; Serbia; vernacular; purism; socialist modernism; New Belgrade. Palabras clave: Le Corbusier; Serbia; vernácula; purismo; modernismo socialista; Nuevo Belgrado. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/LC2015.2015.565


Author(s):  
Dr. Andres Borquez ◽  
Dr. Faran Shoaib

En junio del 2016 fue aprobado el primer proyecto del Banco Asiático de Inversión en Infraestructura y una de las preocupaciones de los expertos es que esta nueva institución puede ser flexible con respecto a las condiciones de los préstamos y salvaguardas, argumentando que los creadores de este banco carecen de experiencia suficiente para mantener altos estándares establecidos por los otros bancos multilaterales. En contraste, otros especialistas destacan que la participación de China en el financiamiento a nivel internacional no es nada nuevo. Durante la última década, China ha permitido que los bancos de desarrollo estatales otorguen créditos no concesionales. Este artículo analiza ambos enfoques y los contrasta con un análisis comparativo del diseño de los bancos de desarrollo regionales y el nuevo banco multilateral liderado por China. Además, analiza la orientación de las políticas de crédito y salvaguardas de los 21 primeros proyectos aprobados por AIIB hasta el 2017. El nuevo banco esta apuntando al camino del medio: por un lado, uniéndose a las filas de los principales bancos multilaterales, pero al mismo tiempo, tratando de ser una institución con una visión sur a sur: ágil, respetando las políticas internas de cada país y enfocada en el nicho de los proyectos de infraestructura.    In June 2016 the first project of the AIIB was approved and some experts' concern is if this new institution can be flexible with respect to the conditions of the loans and safeguards, arguing that the creators of this bank lack enough experience to maintain high standards established by the other multilateral banks. In contrast, other specialists point out that China's participation in financing at an international level is nothing new. Over the past decade, China has allowed state development banks to grant non-concessional loans. This article analyzes both approaches and contrasts them with a comparative analysis of the design of the regional development banks and the new multilateral bank led by China. In addition, it analyzes the orientation of the credit policies and safeguards of the first 21 projects approved by AIIB until 2017. The new bank is treading the middle path: on the one hand, joining the ranks of the main multilateral banks, but at the same time, trying to be an institution with a south-south vision: agile, respecting the internal policies of each country and focused on the niche of infrastructure projects.


2020 ◽  

The article focuses on the means of gender stereotype verbalization in the English-Ukrainian literary translation. Within the framework of the study, gender is represented as a social and cultural phenomenon which, on the one hand, is constructed in the course of interaction with the reality, on the other hand, it is spread in time and space through language. Recurrent characteristics which are traditionally regarded as feminine/masculine lead to the emergence of stereotypes associated with a certain gender. The stereotypical perceptions turn into the mechanisms of human behavior regulation which determine actions, words, position in the society to be expected from a man/woman. However, various cultural environments are capable of different gender conceptualization due to discrepancies in the historical experience, even geographical location or dominant religion. Consequently, the translator may face difficulties related to the cleavage between the characteristics forming the stereotype in the interacting cultures, including cases when such features vary in their intensity. The presence of fixed gender perceptions entails the emergence of standardized formula for their verbalization, conventional metaphors, epithets, etc. In a broader sense, every linguistic choice of the author which determines the construction of gender for all the characters is relevant for the translator whose task consists in coherent reproduction of every aspect of their personality. Meanwhile, the manifestations of feminine/masculine characteristics in the representatives of a certain gender, that are considered completely natural for one linguistic and cultural community, can prove unusual or even unacceptable. The stylistic presentation of the text, thus, becomes a powerful instrument allowing the translator to manipulate the original and the subtlest shades of meanings embedded by the author to meet the needs and, to a certain extent, expectations of the target audience, while the translator’s interference remains almost imperceptible. Still, considering all the similarities of the source and target cultures, the translator may produce a more vivid message in the target text or, on the contrary, blur some of the author’s ideas through the stylistic devices he/she employs.


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