Anna Jackson and Robert Sullivan
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Translating Contemporary New Zealand Poetry into French: Anna Jackson and Robert Sullivan Luc Arnault A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Victoria University of Wellington 2020 1 2 Abstract This thesis aims to explore the translation process through an in-depth analysis of a large corpus of texts: the works of two contemporary New Zealand poets, Anna Jackson and Robert Sullivan, which I translate into French. The work of both poses translation challenges particularly in terms of intertextual and cultural allusions. These are exacerbated where there are profound differences between source and target cultures. I argue that poetry translation problematises the concepts of equivalence and faithfulness. In resonance with Christiane Nord’s skopos theory and her focus on the principle of loyalty, I suggest that an ideal balance can be reached, emphasising the translator’s responsibility as a mediator between cultures, chiefly by way of techniques of compensation, borrowing, transposition or modulation, explicitation or implicitation of the underlying cultural or intertextual layers, and by resorting to creativity. This emphasis does not do away with pragmatism. On the contrary, I justify my choices when confronted with a range of specific challenges, for instance between domesticating and foreignising, or in Nord’s terms instrumental and documentary translations, on the basis of a case-by-case analysis, thus prioritising a heuristic and experimental approach. Translating New Zealand poetry into French shows that, while it may be crucial in literary translation studies, particularly with regard to poetry translation, the distinction between instrumental and documentary nevertheless needs to be transcended. The two types not only overlap but need to do so for a translated poem to function in the target culture. To translate both Jackson’s recurrent references to text and Sullivan’s to culture – or as an umbrella concept, to translate allusion – I show that it is best to think in terms of balance rather than equivalence. Balance not only highlights the need for the translator to be creative and measured, it is a central element in the harmonisation process inherent to poetry translation. 3 Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………….3 Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………...7 Introduction 1. Toward a definition of poetry………………………………………………………8 2. Poetry translation…………………………………………………………………..11 3. Theoretical framework a. Modus Operandi…………………………………………………………….....13 b. Typologies………………………….………………………………………….14 c. Domestication and foreignization……………………………………………...16 d. A pragmatic approach………………………………………………………….17 e. Functionalism………………………………………………………………….21 f. Skopos…………………………………………………………………………23 4. Translating New Zealand poetry…………………………………………………..27 a. Location………………………………………………………………………..28 b. History…………………………………………………………………………31 c. Terminology…………………………………………………………………...38 5. Methodology……………………………………………………………………….41 6. Two case studies in translating New Zealand poetry……………………………...42 Part I: Translating Anna Jackson’s poetry A. Preliminary analysis 1. Anna Jackson’s translation a. Transplantation………………………………………………………………….45 b. Emotion………………………………………………………………………….46 c. Adaptation……………………………………………………………………….47 d. Refraction……………………………………………………………………….50 e. Function(s)………………………………………………………………………51 f. Hauntology………………………………………………………………………53 g. Feminism………………………………………………………………………..56 2. Intertextuality………………………………………………………………………..61 a. Biculturalism…………………………………………………………………….62 b. Shifting roles…………………………………………………………………….66 c. Humour………………………………………………………………………….68 d. Cross-cultural representations…………………………………………………..74 3. Themes……………………………………………………………………………....77 a. The Long Road to Teatime and The Pastoral Kitchen……………………..……78 b. Catullus for Children……………………………………………………………80 c. The Gas Leak……………………………………………………………………81 d. Thicket…………………………………………………………………………...82 e. I, Clodia and Other Portraits…………………………………………………....84 4. Literary devices a. Compression…………………………………………………………………….88 b. Line breaks………………...…………………………………………………….92 c. Formal variety…………………………………………………………………...94 d. Echoes…………………………………………………………………………...97 4 B. Case-by-case analysis 1. The Long Road to Teatime a. “16 Pākehā Waka”……………………………………………………………..101 b. “Just a Mineral Water with Marianne Moore”………………………………...108 2. The Pastoral Kitchen a. “Watch”………………………………………………………………………...114 b. “Kikuyu”……………………………………………………………………….118 3. Catullus for Children a. “Sparrow (as Told by Elvira)”………………………………………………..122 b. “Mayakovsky’s Kindness to Horses”, “Stow Stay Stow Stay 1”……………126 4. The Gas Leak a. “Silence it Means Something”………………………………………………..135 b. “The Gas-Fitter’s Daughter Shows Shane”, “The Gas-Fitter’s Daughter’s Recurring Solution”……………………………………………...140 c. “It Seems That This Time I Have Been Mistaken”, “An Explanatory Wave of the Hand”……………………………………………………………………..147 5. Thicket “Ophthalmoscope”, “Salty Hair”……………………………………………..153 6. I, Clodia and Other Portraits a. “A Thousand Kisses, then a Hundred”, “This Business of Kissing”, “Pipiabat, (Used to Chirp”)……………………………………………………………...158 b. “A God in his Way”, “Oh, in Hendecasyllables!”……………………………163 C. Translating Anna Jackson’s poetry and the poetic voice………………………....170 Part II: Translating Robert Sullivan’s poetry A. Preliminary analysis…………………………………………………………………177 I. Why Star Waka? Presentation, themes and devices 1. A significant metaphor, the waka………………………………………………...179 2. A significant narrative structure a. Chronology……………………………………………..…………………….190 b. Narrative navigation………………………………………………………….198 c. Intertextuality…………………………………………………………………205 3. A significant linguistic tack………………………………………………………211 II. Expected challenges 1. Diglossia …………………………………………………………………………216 2. Other expected challenges…………………………………………...…………...226 B. Case-by-case analysis 1. “He Karakia Tīmatanga”, poem i……………………………………………...231 2. Poems x and xi………………………………………………………………...239 3. Waka 16 and poem xviii……………………………………………………….244 4. Waka 50………………………………………………………………………..250 5. Waka 56………………………………………………………………………..255 6. Waka 75 and 76………………………………………………………………..264 7. Waka 87, 88 and 89………………………………............................................267 8. Waka 100………………………………………………………………………272 C. Translating Robert Sullivan’s Star Waka and the underlying symbolism..……...279 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….286 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………..303 5 6 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Jean Anderson for her constant support and inspiration. I would also like to thank all at the School of Languages and Cultures at Victoria University of Wellington, and in particular my second supervisor Richard Millington, Marco Sonzogni, Yiyan Wang, and Sally Hill for their repeated encouragements, as well as my fellow postgraduate students. Thanks are due to the New Zealand France Friendship Fund and the Faculty of Graduate Research for their support and generosity. A great thank you to Anna Jackson and Robert Sullivan for their time and words. Un grand merci à Matua Greg Cvitanovic, France Grenaudier-Klijn et Keren Chiaroni. Merci à ma famille en France, à ma mère Anne Massé et mon père Dominique Arnault. Thank you to my family in New Zealand, and Kate Martin with aroha. Cette thèse est dédiée à mes fils Léo, Saul et Rémi Arnault-Martin. 7 INTRODUCTION 1. Towards a definition of poetry In 1992, Yves Bonnefoy, poet and acclaimed translator of poetry, based his definition of poetry on “présence”: Ces moments où une chose, ou quelqu’un, sont là, devant nous, avec soudain en eux ce que je nommerai “de la présence”, c’est-à-dire une densité de leur être- là, une intensité de leur manifestation, qui transcendent avec une évidence absolue, irréfutable, notre éventuel désir de réduire ces choses ou ces personnes à une pensée de ce qu’elles sont.1 To illustrate his concept, Bonnefoy uses examples that pertain to nature, like mountains or trees: “la cime d’une montagne, apparue derrière des arbres, ou un grand chêne isolé, dans une clairière, ou une source dans un fossé ou même, simplement, le bruit, le bruit très faible, de cette source.”2 The presence is absolute because it reflects a sense of belonging to the world: “elle a le caractère d’un absolu, – et c’est un absolu qui rejaillit sur nous-mêmes, qui dans cet instant la regardons.” This instant creates an emotion: the enigma of being is now evident, “d’où l’émotion qui nous submerge dans ces instants de présence. Nous étions de l’énigme, nous voici désormais de l’évidence.”3 That instant is dual in its scope, revealing a presence both outside and inside whoever witnesses it. In other words, experiencing this presence constitutes a first step in the process of poetry, a fundamental first step, carrying both the emotion and a sense of existence – belonging, evidence – however, it is the second step that is crucial. It is expected that a poet will make an attempt at some testimony to the experience of presence. Bonnefoy notes that the first step is not exclusively experienced by poets. Mysticism is a response that derives from the same “instant of presence”. What dissociates poets and mystics, then, might be the dynamics of their 1 Bonnefoy, (2004), pp. 65-66. 2 Ibid, p. 66. 3 Ibid. 8 reaction: “les mystiques qui, après l’instant de présence, veulent ne pas retomber dans le discours conceptuel […] cherchent à se taire aussi radicalement que possible.”4 Whereas mystics do not want