The Role of Literary Studies in Translation: an Introduction to Swing Hammer

UNIVERZITA KARLOVA V PRAZE FILOZOFICKÁ FAKULTA ÚSTAV ANGLOFONNÍCH LITERATUR A KULTUR THE ROLE OF LITERARY STUDIES IN TRANSLATION: AN INTRODUCTION TO SWING HAMMER SWING! BAKALÁŘSKÁ PRÁCE Vedoucí práce: Zpracovala: PhDr. Zdeněk Beran, PhD Křepelová Dana, DiS. Konsultant: Studijní obor: Colin S. Clark, M.A. Anglistika a amerikanistika Praha, září 2013 I declare that the following BA thesis is my own work for which I used only the sources and literature mentioned, and that this thesis has not been used in the course of other university studies or in order to acquire the same or another type of diploma. Prague, 14 August 2013 ______________________________________________ Křepelová Dana, DiS. I would hereby like to thank my supervisor PhDr. Zdeněk Beran, PhD for his beneficial, patient, and professional guidance regarding his comments on my translation and my thesis, and I would also like to thank my consultant Colin S. Clark, M.A. for the invaluable insight into the Scottish language and culture. I have no objections to the BA thesis being borrowed and used for study purposes. ABSTRACT This thesis analyses the process of translation of the opening four chapters of the novel Swing Hammer Swing! by Jeff Torrington with regard to the cultural, literary and linguistic point of view in order to point out the holistic approach to translation, which has been previously omitted as the functional aspect of translation. In other words, the original text needs to be analysed with regard to its literary, cultural and social context, so the functions of the text are properly reflected in the actual translation. The thesis is based on Jiří Levý´s functional structuralism, who is nowadays being discovered by the western linguistic theorists, whereas, in the Czech context, he was well-received and always associated with Prague Linguistic Circle. The thesis is divided into three main parts predominantly based on Halliday´s (2001) macro and micro level approach to translation, which strategically combined both the literary and linguistic experience of the translator. In the first section “Macro level approach”, the novel as well as the author are placed in their literary and social contexts, additionally, the novel is respectively analysed in terms of its structure, themes and the overall agenda of the author. In the second section called “Micro level approach”, three main approaches of the field of discourse, the tenor and the mode, Halliday (1978), serve as the structure for the subsequent analysis of stylistic features of the text, and the process of translation. It is impossible to find the sole solution of the individual practical translational issues because these decisions are highly subjective. Therefore, the translational examples stated in the translational analyses are emphasising rather 1 the role of literary criticism in translation of belle-letters than arguing for the particular solution. The last section is the appendix, as it contains the actual translation of the opening first four chapters of the novel with both the original English and the translated Czech text so that the actual translation could be available in full. KEY WORDS Glasgow, Torrington, modern Scottish literature, translation, literary criticism, Halliday, Levý, hysterical realism, word play ABSTRAKT Tato bakalářská práce se zabývá procesem překládání na konkrétním překladu prvních čtyř kapitol románu Jeffa Torringtona Swing Hammer Swing!. Tento proces zohledňuje kulturní, literární a lingvistické překladatelské uchopení překladu jako celku z pohledu anglo-americké překladatelské teorie, která dlouhou dobu opomíjela funkční hledisko použití literární teorie v překladu. Tato překladatelské práce je založena na teoretických i praktických výstupech Jiřího Levého, jehož funkční strukturalismus je v současné době objevován lingvistickými teoretiky anglo-americké tradice, kdežto v českém prostředí je jeho práce známa a spojována s Pražským lingvistickým kroužkem. Bakalářská práce je rozdělena do třech hlavních oddílů, které jsou strukturovány podle Hallidayova (2001) přístupu k analýze překládaného textu na základě kulturního a literárního kontextu (makro level) a následného stylistického a překladatelského rozboru 2 (micro level) podle tématu, vztahu účastníku komunikace a způsobu komunikace Halliday (1978). Je nemožné tuto bakalářskou práci stavět na subjektivních překladatelských závěrech, proto jsou příklady konkrétních překladatelských řešení částí textu uvedené jako argumenty pro Hallidayův model, který nejen zohledňuje literární teorii vpřekladatelské praxi, ale také ho staví před klíčové rozhodnutí kpřistoupení k uvažování nad konkrétní realizací překladu krásné literatury. Posledním oddílem je příloha, kde je text přeložen kompletně, který tak není rozdroben na příklady mimo svůj zamýšlený kontext, a je proto přístupný čtení jako celek. KLÍČOVÁ SLOVA Glasgow, Torrington, moderní skotská literatura, překlad, literární teorie, Halliday, Levý, hysterický realismus, hra se slovy 3 I. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………...……………6 II. ON TRANSLATION………………………………………...…………...….10 III. MACRO LEVEL APPROACH…………………………..…………………13 1. Introduction…………………………………………………...………13 2. The Working Class Novel……………………………………….……17 2.1. The New Glasgow Novel…………………………………...20 3. Main Themes in Swing Hammer Swing! ..............................................27 IV. MICRO LEVEL APPROACH………………………………………..…….34 1. Field of Discourse……………………………………………….……34 1.1. Stylistic Analysis……………………………………………35 1.2. Translational Analysis………………………………………39 2. Tenor……………………………………………………………….…44 2.1. Stylistic Analysis……………………………………………44 2.2. Translational Analysis………………………………………50 3. Mode……………………………………………………….…………55 3.1. Stylistic Analysis……………………………………...…….55 3.2. Translational Analysis………………………………………59 V. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………....……66 VI. WORKS CONSULTED AND CITED...........................................................67 VII. APPENDIX – THE TRANSLATION..........................................................74 4 Les loups encoquilles sont plus cruels que les loups errants. Gaston Bachelard, La poetique de l´espace I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night. Allen Ginsberg, Howl A passive understanding of linguistic meaning is no understanding at all, it is only the abstract aspect of meaning. Bakhtin (1994) 5 I. INTRODUCTION The framework of the translational process includes not only dealings with the various strategies of the languages, but it can also be seen as a process of communication based on Osgood and Schramm model (Schramm, 1954), which decodes the original message in the original language in order to subsequently encode it into the target language. This model was criticised for its linearity in the dynamics of acts of speech, but works very well in translation as there is no interchangeability,1 in the sense of altering of the original piece of literature by the reader. Therefore, it is common to see many translations of the same original work based on the individual translator´s strategies of decoding and encoding as there is a great degree of subjectivity involved. The subjectivity does not involve only the linguistic craft of transforming a text from one language code into another, but the knowledge and insight into the literary context as well. As Jovanka Šotolová points out, the translator possesses a great power to influence both the reception of the author and his works, and the widening of the cultural and linguistic awareness of the reader.2 This thesis focuses on the role of literary studies in translation from the point of view of the theory of communication, which points out that the linguistic prism in translation is not necessarily the dominant one in interpreting the overall focus of the writer of the translated belles-lettres in the target language, here being obviously the Czech language. This thesis is not a display of examples of the 1 “Osgood and Schramm model of Communication.” Communication Theory. 2010. Web. 16 June 2013. 2 Jovanka Šotolová, “Moc a bezmoc překladatele.” Eva Kalivodová et al.,Tajemná translatologie. Praha: FF UK, 2008. 6 ultimate mastering of the art of translation, but it hopes to show, in specific examples of the actual translation of Swing Hammer Swing! by Jeff Torrington, how the linguistic and literary features of the text combine in order to achieve a coherent and comprehensive approach to the novel´s translation into Czech, especially in the approach of stylistics which according to Short (1996), uses linguistic description in the analysis of literary texts.3 However, it needs to be repeated that such an approach means a great degree of subjectivity on the critic´s/the translator´s emphasis of their standpoints, which could be here rather leaning towards literary criticism. The thesis relies on the growing trend in the Anglo-American theories of translation, which views the text, first and foremost, from the standpoint of macro level approach dealing with the cultural, historical and local context; literary allusions; the relations between the author and their readers; and a type of text and his primary function. In other words, this standpoint deals firstly with the literary criticism. This criticism is termed strategic decision, which only then leads to micro level approach, undertaking the grammatical

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