TRANS · The imitation of character voices and the relationship between narrator núm. 18 · 2014 and characters are known to be fruitful domains for authors’ creativity DOSSIER · 85-105 and expressivity and thus constitute an intriguing translation problem that lacks clear solutions. In this study, we examine the translating of non- standard forms of reported discourse as distinct representations of voices in the French and German translations of the second children’s book by the Swedish author P.O. Enquist Den tredje grottans hemlighet, 2010 (“The Secret of the Third Cave”). We set out to analyze the translations of two stylistic features of this text: the use of hybrid forms of direct and indirect speech and the use of italics to mark a cited discourse. key words: translation of children’s literature, P.O. Enquist, voices in translation, non-standard reported speech
Translating non-standard forms of reported discourse in children’s books: Den tredje grottans hemlighet by Swedish author P. O. Enquist in French and German as a case in point Traducir formas no canónicas del discurso indirecto en libros para niños: Den tredje grottans hemlighet del autor sueco P.O. Enquist al francés y al alemán como estudio de caso La imitación de las voces de los personajes así como la relación entre el narrador y los personajes son fecundas fuentes para la creatividad y la expresividad de los autores y hacen que el traductor se enfrente a problemas de traducción que no tienen soluciones muy obvias. El objetivo del presente trabajo es comparar las traducciones francesa y alemana de las formas arina ossas C G no canónicas del discurso indirecto del segundo libro para niños del autor Dalarna University sueco P.O. Enquist Den tredje grottans hemlighet (El secreto de la tercera Ulf Norberg cueva, en español). Analizamos aquí la traducción de dos rasgos estilísticos de este texto: las formas mixtas del discurso directo e indirecto y el uso de Stockholm University cursivas para marcar un discurso citado. palabras clave: traducción de literatura para los niños, P.O. Enquist, voces en traducción, discurso indirecto CARINA GOSSAS & ULF NORBERG TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014
Introduction choice between two extreme orientations: sub- It has been pointed out that in children’s lit- jecting themselves primary either to the norms 86 erature «[f ]ictional dialogue is the appropriate realized in the source text thus aiming at adequa- place for evoking everyday speech, lending cy of the target text, or to the prevailing norm of authenticity and credibility to the narrated the target culture, thus aiming at the translation’s plot and giving a voice to fictitious characters» acceptability whether as a target language text in (Brumme, 2012: 8). Although characters’ voices general, or, more narrowly, as a translation into are mainly represented in dialogues, they can that language (Toury 1995/2012: 79). Indeed, as also be heard in other parts of the literary text, has been pointed out for instance by Nières- where the protagonists’ speech is accounted for Chevrel (2008: 29f ) for the French market, the indirectly by a verbum dicendi, or when the norms regulating the translation of children’s author depicts events from the perspective of a literature permit more important deviations from protagonist. The latter can involve, for example, the original than do the norms of adequacy that applying free indirect discourse, or focalizing. can be observed in the translation of general liter- Characters’ voices are usually important for the ature written for an adult audience. The empirical literary form, the progress of the plot and the departure point for the study is the international characterization. trend, during recent years, of authors of adult In translated children’s literature, the voice literature starting to write for children; editors of the translator, in narratological terms the encourage their authors to address the younger implied translator, is added (cf. Alvstad, 2013). public, as they perceive there to be a market both As O’Sullivan (2003, 2005) claims, this is par- at home and abroad (Beckett 2009: 163-171). Fol- ticularly tangible here «due to the asymmetrical lowing Becket, we use the term crossover writer communication in and around children’s litera- to talk about an established author of literature ture» (2005: 1). One area in which the voice of the for adults who take up writing for children. In the (implied) translator is often clearly heard is when case of crossover writers, their status as renowned the original uses non-standard forms of reported high prestige authors could result in less adapta- discourse (cf., for adult literature, Folkart, 1991, tion to the target norms. Alternatively, the norms Taivalkoski-Shilov, 2006, 2010, 2013). In this arti- applying for children’s literature could still prevail. cle we examine this narrative device in a children’s To our knowledge there is hitherto no research on book written by a highly acknowledged author of the question regarding translations into French adult literature, who has recently crossed over to and German. children’s literature, using non-standard language. We have found a rich material for a compara- We believe that this is a particularly interesting tive investigation of this issue in the children’s context from a translational point of view. Our book Den tredje grottans hemlighet (2010; from observations take the starting point from the now on abridged as TGH) by Swedish author claims of Descriptive Translation Studies (see P. O. Enquist (born 1934). Enquist is a world- Toury 1995/2012) in which translation is seen as a renowned author of adult literature who has norm-governed activity, which should be studied since the 1960s published a large number of in the context of the needs and expectations of novels, including Musikanternas uttåg (1978; the target culture. The basic assumption is that The March of the Musicians), Livläkarens besök any translator is called upon to make an overall (1999; The Visit of the Royal Physician) and TRANSLATING NON-STANDARD FORMS OF REPORTED DISCOURSE IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS: TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014 DEN TREDJE GROTTANS HEMLIGHET BY SWEDISH AUTHOR P.O. ENQUIST IN FRENCH AND GERMAN AS A CASE IN POINT
Boken om Blanche och Marie (2004; The Book in a highly regarded publishing house, Hanser, about Blanche and Marie). He has also written as did the French version, namely in La joie de plays, such as Tribadernas natt (1975; The Night lire, a small publishing house in Geneva special- 87 of the Tribades). His works have been translated izes in children’s literature of high quality.2 into a large number of languages. In a previous publication (Gossas & Norberg, TGH is the second children’s book published 2012), we discussed with regard to the French and by Enquist, who thereby has joined the crosso- German translations of TGB different ways of ver trend.1 It is a continuation of De tre grot- rendering speech in translation. We distinguished tornas berg (from here on abridged as TGB) from between a number of formal categories of ren- 2003, a chapter book about a grandfather and dered speech, all contributing to the polyphonic his grandchildren undertaking an expedition up structure of the text. These are: direct speech, sup- in the mountains, where they experience a num- posedly a mimetic copy of the utterance and nor- ber of unlikely incidents. The first children’s mally marked with a dash or a quotation mark, book was translated into 22 languages, among indirect speech, integrated into the narration and them major languages such as English (Three formally marked by a speech act verb and a subor- Cave Mountain, or: Grandfather and the Wolves), dinator — this canonically comes with transposi- Spanish (La montaña de las tres cuevas), French tions of tense and personal pronouns — and free (Grand-père et les loups), and German (Groß- indirect speech, in which linguistic elements in the vater und die Wölfe). The same translator, Wolf- context make it plausible to assume that words gang Butt, has translated the two books into or thoughts should be ascribed to an enunciator German. Butt is a renowned literary translator, different from the narrator. who has translated many of Enquist’s books We observed a shift towards a more mono- for adults. Different translators, on the other phonic structure in both translations, even hand, have produced the French versions. The though the German version was considerably first book was translated by Agneta Ségol and closer to the original’s heteroglossia in many the second by Marianne Ségol-Samoy & Karin respects. More precisely we observed that the Serres. Agneta Ségol has been one of the most mimetic style in direct speech was more easily productive translators of Swedish children’s lit- transposed into the translations, compared to erature into French, and her daughter Marianne the mimesis appearing through the polyphonic has gone in her footsteps; with a special interest structure of the narrating sequences. In the case in theatre she has also translated Swedish plays studied, this might have been due to the fact into French. The German translation appeared that the narrator’s mimesis of «child language» collides with the standards of literary discourse 1 Enquist said in a radio interview in 2010 that he started writing children’s books without any thoughts in the target cultures. that they were to be published. The driving force was to The aim of this article is to further inves- establish a writing relationship with his grandchildren (the tigate the translation of cited discourse in the heroes in the books are the grandchildren of the author under their right names and the places are authentic). Additionally, he says that he does not know how to write 2 Even if it would have been interesting to compare for children, since he himself is a bit too old to have read the influence that editors have exerted in the translation (modern) children’s literature as a child when it appeared process, it falls outside of the scope of this article to in Sweden around 1945 (for example, Pippi Longstocking by compare the presence of the voice of the editor in the two Astrid Lindgren). versions dealt with here. CARINA GOSSAS & ULF NORBERG TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014
specific type of crossover fiction in which a could also be observed that the book borders highly esteemed adult author writes for a young on the documentary trend in Swedish children’s 88 audience. We set out to investigate how transla- literature that was pointed out by The Swed- tors respond to situations in which a secondary ish Institute for Children’s Books (SBI) in their discourse is integrated into the primary dis- yearly documentation of Swedish children’s course, either through the use of hybrid forms literature for the year 2003, when TGB appeared. of direct and indirect speech (in order to, for The main protagonists are a grandfather and example, enhance the expressivity of the literary some of his grandchildren. The grandfather is text), or through the use of italics citing one of the fictional representation of the author him- the protagonists. In doing so, we will also touch self and the illustrations in the Swedish origi- upon how translators respond when the voices nals greatly resemble the author. The grandfa- of different characters imitate each other, in this ther is mainly called «grandfather», but in TGH case often for a humorous effect. Our hypothe- the grandchildren Gabriel and Moa also use sis is that both translations will standardize «P.O.» (TGH, p. 98 and p. 119) and adults who some of the deviant language characterizing do not know him personally call him «Enquist» the source text, since this has long been pointed (for example, p. 120). The children also bear the out to be a general or even universal feature of names of the real grandchildren of the author, translation (see, for example, Toury, 1995: 267f, as he points out in the radio interview from Laviosa-Braithwaite, 1998: 289f ), but that the 2010. It is stated explicitly in TGH that the main extent of the standardizations will probably not events take place three years after those of the be the same in both languages. first book (which are often referred to), specifi- In section 2, a presentation is made of TGH cally on some particular dates in the summer of and its French and German translations, in 2006. In the second book, the grandchildren order to provide a wider context for the transla- have thus become some years older, and the tion shifts that are discussed. Section 3 presents book is addressed to somewhat older children a theoretical background of the issues of voices (9-12 years of age). Consequently, the imitation in translation. The analysis of the two transla- of voices has also undergone some changes, as tions follows in section 4. In section 5, some will be discussed below. concluding remarks are made. TGH can be seen as a character-oriented, classical but slow-moving adventure story with Presentation of den tredje grottans a fairly long introduction, including the death hemlighet (TGH) and its transla- of the dog Mischa and the start of the expedi- tions into French and German tion at a summer house in West Sweden, where a number of mysterious incidents take place. TGH has many similarities with its predeces- These include finding an abandoned hidden sor (TGB), both being humorous adventure tent in the woods, mysterious policemen, the books that take place in a rural area of Sweden finding of a Lithuanian book (a translation of of today. Both characters and surroundings TGB,3 including a map of the area in question), are presumed to be real. This can, of course, be explained by the fact that the story was origi- 3 Another example of the documentary style in the book is that the smugglers have read the first book, contact nally written for the author’s grandchildren. It the author and make the woods described in the book their TRANSLATING NON-STANDARD FORMS OF REPORTED DISCOURSE IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS: TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014 DEN TREDJE GROTTANS HEMLIGHET BY SWEDISH AUTHOR P.O. ENQUIST IN FRENCH AND GERMAN AS A CASE IN POINT
(1) Klättringen hade ju ännu inte börjat på allvar, det The climb had not yet seriously started, it went gick uppåt men inte så brant, de hade gått två upwards, but not so steeply, they had walked for timmar men hade ännu en bit kvar till den första two hours but still had a bit left to the first cave 89 grottan, där de skulle övernatta inför det avgörande where they were to stay overnight before the deci- insteget mot toppen. Det var så man skulle säga. sive move towards the top. That was how you should Attacken kunde man också säga. Om man ville say it. You could also call it the attack. If you komma upp den sista biten på en mycket svår wanted to come up the last bit of a very difficult bergstopp, som Mount Everest till exempel, då peak, such as Mount Everest for example, then you skulle man med ansats i det sista baslägret företa should with determination in the final base camp det slutgiltiga anfallet mot toppen. (p. 99) undertake the final assault towards the top.a
a The English translations of the Swedish version of TGH are literal; made by Russell Hammerton, translator, in order to explain the meaning of these texts for a reader unfamiliar with the Swedish language. and a threatening nighttime phone call. There the different characters. By letting the char- is a climax in which the grandfather and his acters’ voices be heard in the book, the author grandchildren, the latter equipped with a sto- can present the story from the perspectives of len gun (a Kalashnikov), defeat some Russian these different characters. It is to a large extent smugglers around the «third cave» (hence the through the style of language that the relation- name of the book) with the help of different ship between the generations is revealed in the animals (not least a bear destroying the crimi- book. The grandfather has a specific language nals’ helicopter), and finally a solution section that the children repeatedly relate to. Whereas at the end, in which a mother wolf is buried, a in TGB the children’s voices were present in reference back to the beginning of the book. the narrator’s voice, in TGH the presence of the Death and ageing are central themes in the grandfather’s voice in the narrator’s voice is more book, for example, with episodes of the deaths prominent. Grandfather can be said to have of animals both starting and ending the book, both a «poetic» and an «exact» discourse, and by the foregrounding of the grandfather’s poor the narrator repeatedly reports both. Renderings health, and the expression ånga upp (steam up) of these discourses are often marked graphi- repeated a number of times (p. 23, 34, 48, 127, cally in italics,4 as in example (1)5 illustrating 128, 173), indicating the grandfather’s view on the «exact» discourse of the grandfather. The the philosophical question of what happens protagonists are on their way up to the cave to after death. Didactic elements are quite fre- investigate why the wolf seems to be howling. quent, through the grandfather’s explanations The narrator describes their way up. In the mid- that come repeatedly, as well as through the 4 highlighting of the importance and pleasure of It is, however, worth mentioning that italics are also used for other various purposes. These were not viewed language. well by a number of the Swedish reviewers, who argued TGH is a book in which the story is con- that their abundance gives them less impact (see also structed by the dialogue between the voices of below). 5 Italics in the following examples are always from the books themselves. Underlining has been added by the new scene of crime. authors for items that are considered in the discussion. CARINA GOSSAS & ULF NORBERG TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014
(2) — Lägg av, sa Mina. (MI-1) — Stop it, Mina said. (Mi-1) — Detta är förvisso sant, sa Marcus till henne. — It is admittedly true, Marcus said to her. (Ma-1) 90 (Ma-1) — Lägg av!!! (Mi-2) — Stop it!!! (Mi-2) — Sant. Hur mycket du än fnyser och säger Holy — It’s true. No matter how much you snort and shit. (Ma-2) say Holy shit. (Ma-2) — Holy shit, sa Mina. […] (p. 33) (Mi-3) — Holy shit, Mina said. (Mi-3)
dle of the example, there is a shift from external The peritext (i.e., the paratext surrounding focalization by the use of the third person plural the literary text on and in the book itself, see pronoun (de ‘they’) into internal focalization Genette, 1987) differs considerably between the marked by the impersonal pronoun man (‘one’).6 three versions. In both translations, the titles In the example, the second sentence and those are changed considerably. The French version following contain a metalinguistic reflection is called La montagne aux trois grottes Three of the expressions that should be used in order mountain caves, a rather literal translation of to properly describe the last part of the ascen- the title of the first book, thereby breaking with sion. The expressions are marked by italics, and the foregrounding of the (famous) grandfather it is rather obvious from the context that this in the title of the first book (in French it was discourse can be ascribed to the grandfather, as called Grand-père et les loups Grandfather and it uses a rather military register (insteg ‘move’,7 the wolves). The German version continues attack ‘attack’, anfall ‘assault’). its aim of putting the grandfather in the fore- The children seem keen to adopt the some- ground, as he was in TGB (called Großvater und what specific language of their grandfather, die Wölfe Grandfather and the wolves), calling which has different traits from theirs, being this Großvater und die Schmuggler (Grandfather both old-fashioned and poetic. The following and the smugglers). The illustrations in TGH example (2) illustrates the stylistic variation that are considerably more «adult-like» than those appears throughout the book. In the second in the first book. The German version contains line, Marcus makes use of the old and formal drawings by the same (German) illustrator as adverbial expression förvisso (‘admittedly’) in the first book, Leonard Erlbruch. The French the phrase Detta är förvisso sant (‘This is admit- version has the same cover picture as the Ger- tedly true’) (Ma-1), which contrasts with his man, but no pictures in the book itself. second more spontaneous intervention Sant. The cover texts also differ considerably. The (‘True.’) (Ma-2), as well as the tone of Mina in Swedish version does not mention comments her first and third lines (Mi-1, Mi-3). on the book by professionals (i.e., reviews). However, on the back cover, it acknowledges 6 We have marked these by underlining in the the fact that the first book was translated into example. 22 languages and received a prize for best chil- 7 Insteg is according to the dictionary Svensk ordbok dren’s book of the year in Germany. The French (2009) only used in a few expressions, and thus represents the somewhat old-fashioned vocabulary characterizing the version refers to the author as «le grand écrivain book. suédois» (Engl. ‘the big Swedish author’) and TRANSLATING NON-STANDARD FORMS OF REPORTED DISCOURSE IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS: TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014 DEN TREDJE GROTTANS HEMLIGHET BY SWEDISH AUTHOR P.O. ENQUIST IN FRENCH AND GERMAN AS A CASE IN POINT continues by saying that he tells the story of adults. Even if Stark finds it praiseworthy that a grandfather that every child would dream of authors normally writing for adults change having (the same phrase is used on both cov- target group, he does not find this a success- 91 ers). The German version refers to the terrific ful example, «whatever the critics in Germany adventures of the first book and hints that they might say».10 are even surpassed here, all in a language spiced In French-speaking countries, we have been with child-like words. It is complemented by an able to find only a few book reviews. Ricochet, enthusiastic review of the first book, the refer- the Internet site of the Swiss institute for ence to it ending with the words «des großen children’s books, which guides readers in the schwedischen Schriftstellers» (Engl. ‘of the big vast area of newly released children’s literature Swedish author’). in French, considered the book to be espe- Concerning the reception of the book in cially well worth reading, since they presented it the Swedish market, it was, to say the least, under the title of «Notre sélection 2011». In their lukewarm. Some reviewers were of the opinion review, the narration was described as «abun- that the book addressed adults too much and dant and euphoric» and attention was drawn to that neither the style nor the humour would the successful depicting of realistic characters; be well received by children (Per Israelsson in each child displaying its own personality, and Svenska Dagbladet [Nov. 2, 2010], Malin Lin- the grandfather being both wise and foolhardy. droth in Göteborgs-Posten [Oct. 27, 2010]).8 In In German-speaking countries, the second his review, the highly acclaimed children’s book book was also very well received. Reviewers author Ulf Stark compared the styles of Enquist emphasized the verbal imaginativeness of the as an adults’ and children’s book author, and book (Christine Lötscher in Buch & Maus, pointed out that the precise tone of the adults’ 2011), stating that «childish and old-fashioned author is missing here. He comments critically language harmonize well with each other» here, on «strange italicizing, words and repetitions» and that the fact that the narrator perpetually (Stark, 2010),9 which according to him do not changes position provides variation, sometimes characterize Enquist’s style when he writes for being close to the grandfather and sometimes close to the grandchild Marcus (Anna Wegelin 8 In Sweden, the first book was not well received in Die Wochenzeitung, [April 14, 2011]). Interest- either, as we showed in the former article (Gossas & ingly, it received a children’s book prize in Swit- Norberg, 2012). Some rather harsh criticism was made, focusing not least, like leading critic Lena Kåreland, on zerland (Pro Senectute Schweiz, Prix Chronos) the dominance of the adult narrator and the many «winks to the adults». In France and Germany, the first book was 10 It is not uncontroversial for authors to change instead highly praised. In France, it was claimed that the market. In the field of children’s literature, authors big Swedish author had placed himself at the child’s level, and others have long strived to earn the prestige and that the style was poetic, and they particularly mentioned recognition of adult literature. The author who normally the concomitance of burlesque and wisdom. The story was writes for adults and who changes market will be judged described as being both funny and touching. In Germany, with respect to her/his previous production as well as to as mentioned, the book received a prestigious prize and the current expectations on children’s literature. On the critics praised, above all, the full entry into the child’s other hand, it is possible that the work of the author will perspective. be praised according to the reputation s/he has already 9 This translation of the reviews and all the following earned as a writer for adults. The reputation can be ones from French and German, respectively, are made by different in different cultures and this may also affect the the authors. assessment of translations. CARINA GOSSAS & ULF NORBERG TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014
(3a) — Jag är ingen hund! hade morfar sagt en gång till — I am not a dog! grandfather had said once again […]. (p.11) […]. 92 (3b) Morfar hade sagt en gång till att han inte var Grandfather had said once again that he was not någon hund. a dog.
that highlights the theme of age and relations characters with their social and individual vari- between generations with the motivation that ations, are given expression and form. «Enquist’s second children’s book amazes with As mentioned above, we are interested here its playful language, the self-ironic language of in the interaction between direct and indirect the grandfather and its narrative skills» (2012). speech. The alternation of direct and indirect discourse is most often a question of rhythm and Theoretical background variation (Nikolajeva, 2002: 229). This alterna- tion is not uncomplicated in TGH, especially not The narration in a novel is the result of an act from the point of view of the translator. of enunciation by what we will call a primary The different types of mediation of a sec- speaker, the narrator, which generally includes ondary discourse establish a tension between other acts of communication in the text accom- the discursive continuity of the narration and plished by what we call a secondary speaker. In the discontinuity automatically generated by this article, we do not intend to hold a narrato- the citations (Adam, 2008: 75). Whereas direct logical discussion about the status or types of speech leads to a discontinuity by the explicit ren- narrators, but instead we will take a linguistic dering of the words of a secondary enunciator, perspective. Following the enunciative frame- indirect speech tends somewhat towards homo- work of modern linguistics represented, for geneity by transforming the deictic elements of instance, by Laurence Rosier (2008) and Alain the utterance. Direct speech, thus a supposedly Rabatel (2009), and of textual linguistics, rep- true copy of the utterance,11 is also canonically resented, for instance, by Jean-Michel Adam clearly separated from the body of the text with (2008), we acknowledge the dialogical nature a dash or quotation marks that reflects the dis- inherent in the language system and the fact cursive discontinuity. A typical example (3a) of that mediating discourse is not confined to direct speech in TGH illustrates this. literary discourse, even though it has its special We can observe that the quote here is marked function within this discourse. by several formal means: new line, dash, capital The use of character-oriented discourse letter, exclamation mark and a following verbum in a children’s book has various functions, for 11 It has been pointed out that, after all, there are instance, leading the plot forward and giving no previous utterances to imitate in fictitious statements body and shape to the characters (see Nikola- in novels, and therefore it is also more adequate to claim jeva, 2002: 223-240). The interplay of voices that in fiction you render «representations of words/ statements of the other» (Rosier, 2008: 4) – the traces that gives the text a polyphonic structure, in which are typical for the oral code are also neutralized in order to the voices of the narrator, and those of different be intelligible. TRANSLATING NON-STANDARD FORMS OF REPORTED DISCOURSE IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS: TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014 DEN TREDJE GROTTANS HEMLIGHET BY SWEDISH AUTHOR P.O. ENQUIST IN FRENCH AND GERMAN AS A CASE IN POINT dicendi. A transformed sentence, canonical for d) Free direct discourse:12 He looked at her. indirect speech, would be example 3b. My illness is haunting me. In this referential sentence, the personal pro- 93 noun and the tense are changed (deictic expres- According to the norms, the secondary dis- sions would also have been changed if there had course in (a) appears with the tense and the been any), a subordinator is added, but neither pronoun proper to the situation of the utter- a dash, a capital letter, nor an exclamation ance. However, in (b) a subordinator proper to mark are used. It is noteworthy here that the the direct speech appears. In (c), the graphical standard for rendering both direct and indirect marking separating the primary and the sec- speech for all the three languages involved here ondary discourses is omitted. In (d), only the –French, German, Swedish– is more or less the tense and the pronoun formally indicate the same; only the use of dash vs. quotation marks, discursive discontinuity. The contextual clue and, concerning the latter, the appearance of the for an interpretation of discursive discontinu- quotation marks differs between them. ity can also be found in the perception verb in As demonstrated by Rosier (2008: 52f ), it is the previous sentence. As Rosier stresses, these possible to distinguish between several mixed examples only illustrate the fact that we can forms in which some traits of the direct dis- organize the different forms of reported speech course are present in the construction of an on a continuum, and that there exist hybrid instance of indirect speech (third person pro- forms. This is thus not to be understood as an noun, past tense), or vice versa. For instance, the exhaustive list of possibilities. subordinated secondary utterance can maintain Rosier (2008: 53) likewise proposes four types mimetic elements proper to the utterance situa- of indirect speech: tion. It is thus not justified to postulate a neces- sary correlation between the grade of mimesis a) Canonical form: He did not stop saying and the type of cited discourse. It is also pos- that his illnes was haunting him. sible to encounter an instance of indirect speech b) With interpolated clause: His illness was which maintains the deictic forms proper to the haunting him, he did not stop repeating. enunciation of the reported discourse, but which c) Mimetic: He did not stop saying that «his is nevertheless introduced by a subordinator that illness was haunting him!». thus works in the direction of syntactic integra- d) Without subordinator: He did not stop tion within the primary discourse. As a matter saying «his illness was haunting him!» of fact, Rosier (2008: 53) mentions four types of direct speech (here translated into English): The forms b-d all deviate in different ways
a) Canonical form: He did not stop saying: 12 The use of free direct discourse can be described as «My illness is haunting me!» the 20th century parallel to the trend of using free indirect discourse in the 19th century, taking the liberation of the b) Direct speech with subordinator: He did not speech of the characters one step forward (see Marnette, stop saying that «my illness is haunting me!» 2005: 239). As Marnette points out, the lack of speech c) Direct speech typographically emanci- verb and of typographical marks «give an impression of immediacy that reinforces the impression that the narrator pated: He did not stop saying my illness is not controlling the characters but merely observing is haunting me! them.» (2005: 248) CARINA GOSSAS & ULF NORBERG TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014
from the canonical case illustrated in (a), but through canonical direct discourse (dash, first still maintain the past tense and the third person, question mark in M-1). The following 94 person pronoun. However, in (c) and (d) some turns (M-2 and PO-2) are mediated through characteristics from the utterance situation indirect discourse (past tense) and integrated are added. In both, there is an exclamation within the same sentence. Thus, only M-2 is mark proper to the secondary discourse, and introduced by a speech verb (fråga ‘ask’) men- the dashes mark mimesis. In (d), the syntactic tioning explicitly who is speaking. For turn marker of subordination has been omitted. PO-2, there is no such indication. The next turn As seen above, the discursive discontinuity in of Marcus’s (M-3) directly follows in the same the rendering of direct speech is marked in the paragraph, whereas PO-3 (composed of four canonical case by a number of formal means. sentences) comes in a new paragraph. Here, we However, as Rosier (2008) shows concern- find a less canonical rendering, as we simulta- ing written French, the formal marking can neously have a subordinator (att ‘to’) and the be totally eliminated without this essentially past tense (var ‘was’), which alternates with the affecting the interpretation. The reader will present tense (tycker om ‘like’).13 also identify the cited expression without any The temporal logic used here (underlined formal means at all. Following Rosier (2008: 55), above: Då ‘then’, och ‘and’, Då ‘then’, Och då ‘and we finally postulate that for reported discourse, then’) lends both a child’s perspective and oral there is always a tension between the over- characteristics to the narration. This is also an marking and the erasure of the citing discourse. example of grandfather using a rather «adult In this article, we use the term «overmarking» language» (PO-1: hädangång ‘passing’), and when several formal means concur in the mark- illustrates the way in which grandfather usually ing of the enunciative status of an expression. explains words for the children (PO-1: skonsam This makes it possible to compare the degree ‘merciful’). of formal marking in terms of the relative over- In the following section, we will discuss the and under-marking between the versions of the translation of what we could call hybrid forms of book, as well as differences with regards to the reported speech, in which the author in the same formal devices that are used. sequence uses both traits belonging canonically In TGH, there are many instances of hybrid to direct speech and traits typical of the expres- forms in which, for example, instances of sion of indirect speech. Formal categories (tense, direct speech do not receive all the markers pronouns and punctuation marks) are used here shown above and in which instances of indi- in a non-canonical way. These blurred forms are rect speech are integrated more or less in the interesting from the perspective of translation, primary utterance. Let us look at an example not least since they are instances for which there of how different types of formal means interact probably very seldom exist strong translation in the rendering of the mediated discourses. norms. We will also discuss the translation of In (4), below, we see an interaction between italicized expressions where the typography Marcus and his grandfather that takes place indicates a cited discourse. in the car on the way to the veterinary clinic. 13 The dialogue continues for approximately two The first two turns (M-1 = Marcus’s first turn; more pages, mainly with direct speech, with some turns PO-1=grandfather’s first turn) are mediated integrated in the narration. TRANSLATING NON-STANDARD FORMS OF REPORTED DISCOURSE IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS: TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014 DEN TREDJE GROTTANS HEMLIGHET BY SWEDISH AUTHOR P.O. ENQUIST IN FRENCH AND GERMAN AS A CASE IN POINT
(4) Marcus hade babblat mest hela tiden, det var Marcus had babbled more or less the whole time, för att han skulle slippa tänka på vart han var so that he would not have to think about where he på väg. was on his way to. 95 — Om det nu är så, att vi måste hjälpa Mischa att — If we really have to help Mischa die, he had dö, hade han frågat, varför måste vi förresten? (M-1) asked, why do we have to really? (M-1) — För att Mischa är blind och nästan förlamad, — Because Mischa is blind and almost paralysed, och vi vill göra hennes hädangång skonsam, hade and we want to make her departure merciful, gran- morfar sagt. (PO-1) dfather had said. (PO-1) Då hade Marcus frågat vad skonsam betydde, Then Marcus had asked him what merciful (M-2) och det betydde att det inte skulle göra meant, (M-2) and it meant that it would not hurt. ont (PO-2). Då hade Marcus grubblat en stund (PO-2) Then Marcus had pondered for a while till och frågat om det alltid var så det måste bli longer and asked if it always had to be like this som gammal. När man blev blind och förlamad. when you became old. When you became blind (M-3) and paralysed. (M-3) Och då hade morfar sagt, att ja. I varje fall i And then grandfather had said, that yes. At detta fall. Alltså när det gällde Mischa. Eftersom least in this case. That is, when it had to do with hon var döende, och vi tycker om henne så mycket. Mischa. Since she was dying, and we like her so (PO-3) (pp. 16f) much. (PO-3)
Translation analysis servile one. However, missing quotation marks In many (but not all) aspects, the French ver- in the source text are most often inserted, as sion diverges more from the Swedish original well as colons. The non-canonical use of italics than does the German version, which has as signs for speech is sometimes removed in the repercussions for the voices of the protago- German version. It is noticeable that it has long nists. Consequently, the French translation been claimed in translation studies that punc- normalizes hybrid forms of direct speech tuation is among the cases in which translators – recurrently forming a clear distinction tend to standardize to a large extent (see, for between primary and secondary discourse, example, Vanderauwera, 1985). The strong norm which is marked graphically (by a new line, might be due to the issue being closely con- a dash, or a colon). A possible reason for this nected with opinions about «good» and «bad» could be the mission of children’s literature language. to teach reading; the text should be easy to In the following, we first discuss forms rela- read.14 tively close to standardized direct speech, and The German translation respects many more then continue with more non-canonical ones. non-standard traits of reported discourse than Let us first consider an example in which both does the French one, without being a totally translations have undergone standardizations, each one opting for different solutions. In 14 The French version also sometimes restructures example (5), the secondary discourse (det kan paragraphs, and omits some repetitions, also concerning direct speech (e.g., utterances by grandson Marcus on p. aldrig bli lika roligt en andra gång ‘it can never be 15, 38). as funny a second time’) is only separated from CARINA GOSSAS & ULF NORBERG TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014
(5) Han sa: det kan aldrig bli lika Il dit tout le temps que ça ne Er sagte: »Ein zweites Mal roligt en andra gång. (p. 8) pourra jamais être aussi amusant macht es niemehr so viel Spaß.« 96 une deuxième fois. (p. 9) (p. 6)
(6) I alla fall hade han till Marcus En tout cas, Grand-père a répon- Auf jeden Fall hatte er zu Marcus sagt Jag är inte blind! och Jag ser du à Marcus Je ne suis pas aveugle ! gesagt: »Ich bin nicht blind! Und som en örn! (p. 11) et Je vois comme un serpent ! (p. 11) ich sehe wie ein Adler!« (p. 9)
the primary discourse with a colon after the interpretation much less plausible. Both proce- speech verb. The simple use of a colon to mark dures mirror a recurrent pattern throughout the the separation between the two discourse levels respective translations. The French version, on can be described as a relative under-marking the other hand, adds the adverbial tout le temps of this distinction. In a more standardized (‘always’), thus explicating an iterative interpre- form, the mediated discourse would have been tation of the utterance. introduced by a capital letter, and possibly sur- In example (6), there are two reported utter- rounded by quotation marks.15 The sequence ances by grandfather that attract our attention appears at the very beginning of the book; the (Jag är inte blind! ‘I am not blind!’, Jag ser som en children want to return to the mountains, but örn! ‘I see like an eagle!’). These two instances the grandfather is, surprisingly, the one who of direct speech (present tense, first person) are blocks a new expedition. It is worth mention- both marked by capital letters, italics, and excla- ing that the context actually points towards mation marks, but lack other graphical markers an iterative interpretation of the sentence; the such as colons, dashes or new lines, which con- grandfather repeatedly refuses to embark on a tributes to a faster rhythm of reading. new expedition because he assumes that it could In this case, it is the French version that fol- not be as fun as the first time. The iterative lows the original’s non-canonical uses, whereas interpretation might possibly explain the use of these are normalized in the German version, this non-standardized form. in the second repartee of which, in addition, The French version chooses to standard- the conjunction «Und» is integrated into the ize into indirect speech introduced by the reported utterances. subordinator que, whereas the German version The interaction in (7) shows a mix of differ- chooses to standardize the direct speech, with ent ways to mark cited discourse. The example a colon, quotation marks, a capital letter and a shows clearly how a faster rhythm of reading is full stop in the secondary discourse, which – it created in Enquist’s text by the use of a number could be argued – together makes the iterative of different non-canonical means. For instance, several turns are woven together by leaving out 15 As recommended, for instance, by the norms new lines, colons, dashes and quotation marks, prescribed by the Swedish official organ for language politics and purism (Språkrådet) in Svenska skrivregler but instead adding italics; the latter helping (2005: 154). the reader to identify cited discourse and not TRANSLATING NON-STANDARD FORMS OF REPORTED DISCOURSE IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS: TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014 DEN TREDJE GROTTANS HEMLIGHET BY SWEDISH AUTHOR P.O. ENQUIST IN FRENCH AND GERMAN AS A CASE IN POINT
(7) — Morfar, hade då Marcus sagt, — T’as quel âge, toi ? a demandé »Großvater«, hatte Marcus da hur gammal är du? (M-1) Och Marcus. (M-1) gesagt, »wie alt bist du?« (M-1) morfar hade svarat sjuttiofem år. — Soixante-dix-sept ans, a dit Und Großvater hatte geantwor- 97 (PO-1) Då hade Marcus, som var Grand-père. (PO-1) tet: »Fünfundsiebzig.« (PO-1) Da nio år och duktig i räkning, frå- Marcus, qui a neuf ans et qui hatte Marcus, der neun war und gat hur gammal han skulle vara est fort en maths, a demandé à gut im Rechnen, gefragt, wie alt om han varit hund (M-2); jag vet Grand-père quel âge il aurait s’il Großvater wäre, wenn er Hund inte, hade morfar sagt, jag är ju était un chien. (M-2) wäre. (M-2) »Ich weiß nicht«, ingen hund. (PO-2) Men Marcus — Je ne sais pas puisque je hatte Großvater gesagt, »ich hade räknat tyst för sig själv och n’en suis pas un, lui a répondu bin ja kein Hund.« (PO-2) Aber sagt: Du skulle vara drygt tio år Grand-père. (PO-2) Marcus hatte stumm vor sich om du var hund! Och då har du sju Mais Marcus a fait le calcul hin gerechnet und gesagt: »Du hundår på dig innan du blir blind! dans sa tête : wärst gut zehn Jahre alt, wenn (M-3) (pp. 10f) —Si t’étais un chien, t’aurais du Hund wärst! Und dann hast même pas dix ans. Donc il te reste du noch sieben Hundejahre vor encore sept années de chien avant dir, bevor du blind wirst!« (M-3) de devenir aveugle. (M-3) (p. 11) (p. 8) become lost in the reading (cf. Cadera, 2011: man version, on the contrary, mainly follows 40f ). The example starts with a repartee with a the original when it comes to the structure of dash, introducing a question by Marcus to his the interaction, but adds a colon and quotation grandfather (M-1). The grandfather’s response marks in PO-1, separates M-2 and PO-2 by a full (PO-1) is reported within the same paragraph stop, and also adds quotation marks in PO-2. It and only marked by a speech verb (hade svarat finally introduces quotation marks and takes ‘had answered’), this time coming before the away the italics in M-3. reported utterance. The second question asked The restructuring in the French version by Marcus (M-2) follows again within the same entails the omissions of the connective mark- paragraph, but this time in the form of an indi- ers of colloquial style in the opening two sen- rect question. The emotional enhancement is tences (då ‘then’, Och ‘and’, Då ‘then’; underlined then reflected in the punctuation and reading above). However, the repartees in general are rhythm, as the response (PO-2) comes imme- rendered in a colloquial tone, reflected, for diately after a semicolon, intersected with an instance, in the use of the contracted form interpolated clause (hade morfar sagt ‘had grand- imitating orality (T’as < Tu as ‘you have’). Once father said’). The paragraph ends by an empha- again, we observe that the German version sized repartee by Marcus in italics after a colon, keeps more of the norm-breaks than does the but without a dash or quotation marks (M-3). French one, but standardizes some. The addi- The French version clearly separates the tion of quotation marks is particularly recurrent voices of the different characters (M-1, PO-1, in the German version. By not using a new M-2- PO-2) by the use of dashes and new lines line in order to separate the turns, the German (a line break for the indirect question in M-2), version can also easily maintain the connective privileging clarity and readability. The Ger- markers. CARINA GOSSAS & ULF NORBERG TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014
(8) Och Mischa sa, i drömmen allt- Et elle lui disait (c’était très clair, Und Mischa sagte, im Traum så, men det var väldigt tydligt att bien que ce soit un rêve) : also, aber es war ganz deutlich, 98 hon sa det, att snälla Marcus jag – S’il te plaît Marcus, j’ai si mal dass sie es sagte: Marcus, mein har så hemskt ont i kroppen så nu au corps, je crois qu’il est temps Lieber, ich habe solche Schmerzen im tror jag det är dags att dö. (p. 14) pour moi de mourir. (p. 16). ganzen Körper, dass ich glaube, jetzt ist es an der Zeit zu sterben. (p. 11)
In example (8), an instance of blurred direct feeling in the reader of having direct access to speech by the dog (snälla Marcus jag har så Gunilla’s formulations. The second utterance hemskt ont i kroppen så nu tror jag att det är dags (G-2) is rendered by the standard form of direct att dö ‘please Marcus, my body hurts terribly speech, whereas the third case (G-3) could so now I think it’s time to die) is syntactically probably best be interpreted as an example of integrated into the primary discourse by the use free indirect discourse. This interpretation is of the subordinator att (‘that’).16 The use of the enhanced by the italics of the verb var (‘was’), present tense, the first person pronoun (jag ‘I’), which marks a specific intonation. (G-3 is also and presumably also the use of italics, advocate situated at the end of a whole section.) the interpretation of direct citation, in spite of The French version transforms the item of the subordinator directly ahead, and no use of a indirect speech (G-1) to a description of Guni- colon, a dash, a new line or a capital letter. lla’s mood (Bien qu’elle soit heureuse pour Gabriel None of the translators respected this typo- et sa pêche fructueuse ‘Although she is happy for graphically. In both translations, the restructur- Gabriel and his success in fishing’), whereas the ing leads to a clear indication of direct speech German version keeps close to the source text. (colon), in the French version also with a dash. G-2 has the same structure in the three versions, Yet, they both keep the italics, perhaps because just with a tense change in the translations, of the highly expressive content (a declaration from the pluperfect tense into the present tense of pain and death) and the unusual speaker (the in the French version, and the preterit tense in dog). the German one. In G-3, the French version In example (9), we see that different utter- reduces the voice ambiguity; only the narrator’s ances within a turn can be reported differently. voice is heard. The German version once again Indeed, the contribution of grandfather’s wife stays closer to the original, since Gunilla’s voice Gunilla is cited in three different ways. The is clearly heard here. first utterance (G-1) is integrated syntactically As already mentioned above, the use of ital- within the primary discourse by the subordina- ics contributes essentially to the expression of tor att (‘that’) but has a clear mimetic character the protagonists’ voices in TGH. Italics can, of through the right-dislocation detta med gäddan course, have many functions, and as indicated (‘this about the pike’), which helps evoking the above they are particularly abundant in TGH. In some cases, italics simply mark the special 16 Och Mischa sa, i drömmen alltså, men det var intonation of an element in the cited discourse, väldigt tydligt att hon sa det, att [..] ‘But Mischa said, in the dream that is, but it was very clear that she said it, that’ as can be seen above in (4), where the modal […] adverb måste (‘must’) is in italics. Addition- TRANSLATING NON-STANDARD FORMS OF REPORTED DISCOURSE IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS: TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014 DEN TREDJE GROTTANS HEMLIGHET BY SWEDISH AUTHOR P.O. ENQUIST IN FRENCH AND GERMAN AS A CASE IN POINT
(9) Gunilla hade varit allvarlig och Bien qu’elle soit heureuse pour Gunilla war ernst und besorgt, bekymrad, men sa att det i varje Gabriel et sa pêche fructueuse sagte aber immerhin, wie schön fall var roligt för Gabriels skull, (G-1), Gunilla s’inquiète elle es sei für Gabriel, das mit dem 99 detta med gäddan. (G-1) aussi. Hecht. (G-1) – Unghögen på åtta barn, hade – En tout cas, un group de huit »Der achtköpfige Kinderhaufen« hon sagt och låtit lite trött på enfants ne peut pas faire le sagte sie und hörte sich dabei rösten, kan i varje fall inte sköta travail de la police du Värmland ein wenig müde an, »kann auf det polisiära arbetet för västra (G-2), avance-t-elle- d’une voix jeden Fall nicht die Polizeiarbeit Värmland. (G-2) fatiguée. im westlichen Värmland Om det nu var någonting, Mais c’est difficile de savoir ce übernehmen.« (G-2) och morfar inte bara inbillat sig. qui se passe en réalité. Grand- Wenn denn überhaupt etwas war (G-3) (p. 64) père fabule-t-il? A-t-il trop und Großvater sich nicht alles d’imagination? (G-3) (p. 76) nur eingebildet hatte. (G-3) (p. 58)
ally, they can function as quotation marks, as way of explaining appears to be a stylistic fea- in (6) and (8). In the following example, (10), ture of TGH, and a way to combine a child and an additional function is illustrated, namely to an adult perspective. literally cite a certain word or a phrase within The French translation here undertakes the primary narrator’s discourse. some standardization both on the formal The example opens with a description of and lexical levels. A frame adverbial (selon lui grandfather shouting in the boat in order to ‘according to him’) is added in PO-3 that also help the children maintain a good cadence starts a new sentence. The italics disappear while rowing. Two interventions in indirect and the personal pronoun han (‘he’) is replaced speech (PO-1, PO-2), as well as one interven- by the impersonal on (‘you’). The explanation tion in indirect speech (PO-3), are rendered in thus moves away from the character of the the two first sentences. The speech verb mässa grandfather and the citation function is lost, (‘chant’) mentioned in the second line extends as well as its characterizing function. However, to all of these instances. Then, the narrator the last sentence in the example (an asyndetic reports three explanative reformulations of the construction in the original) states that this is word karaktärsdanande (‘character-forming’). how grandfather used different expressions. It The narrator tells us that grandfather uses dif- is finally worth mentioning that the sequence ferent conventional metaphorical expressions alltså ordet karaktärsdanande (‘that is the word depending on the person he addresses (drag character-forming’) is omitted. The German ‘energy’, ryggrad ‘spine’, stake ‘pole’). The use translation makes the same change from per- of italics and the expressivity naturally lead the sonal to impersonal pronoun (man ‘you’), but reader to consider this as a faithful citation. maintains the italics and their citing function. The narrator also says that this is the way that Another example where the French transla- grandfather översatte (‘translated’) the expres- tion has omitted the italics, whereas they are sion used. This rather humorous and self-ironic maintained in the German version, can be seen CARINA GOSSAS & ULF NORBERG TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014
(10) Han brukade, när Marcus Quand son petit-fils Wenn Marcus ruderte, saß rodde, sitta på akterbrädan rame, Grand-père s’assoit Großvater meistens auf der 100 och rytande mässa takten: généralement à l’arrière de Achterbank und gab lauthals ”Årtag – vila!” (PO-1) Och la barque et hurle : « Coup den Takt an: »Ziehen – ruhen!« sen: “Årtag – vila, årtag – vila!” de rame – repos ! » (PO-1) Et (PO-1) Und noch einmal: »Zie- (PO-2) och att detta var viktigt puis : « Coup de rame – repo hen – ruhen! Ziehen - ruhen!« och karaktärsdanande för unga – coup de rame – repos ! » (PO-2) Und jedes Mal sagte er, människor. (PO-3) Det betydde, (PO-2). Selon lui, ça forge la wie wichtig und charakterbil- när han översatte, alltså ordet personnalité des jeunes gens. dend dies für junge Menschen karaktärsdanande, att det skulle (PO-3) Ce qui veut dire, quand sei. (PO-3) Das bedeutete, wenn bli lite drag i dem om de rodde on traduit, que pour bien ramer, man es übersetzte, das charakter- rätt, eller lite ryggrad, eller stake, il faut de la puissance dans le bildend also, dass sie Zug bekä- han använde olika ord beroende mouvement, autrement dit du men, wenn sie richtig ruderten, på vem det var han undervisade. caractère et du dynamisme. Il oder ein bisschen Rückgrat, oder (p. 73) emploi du vocabulaire différent Mumm, er benutzte verschiede- en fonction de la personne qui ne Wörter, je nachdem, wen er est en face de lui. (p. 87) gerade unterrichtete. (p. 66)
in (11).17 Here, the tone is more serene. The In (12), we see again that the standardiza- protagonists are in a dangerous and crucial tion of the typography goes hand in hand with situation as they intend to climb to the top. a syntactic standardization, as well as with Grandfather has explained how to do this. The normalization at the level of enunciation. This rendering of this is from the children’s perspec- time, the three varied formulations are about a tive (by the use of the impersonal pronoun man word play. Grandfather firstly uses the comical ‘you’). In the original, there is no explicit men- and childlike expression ta ihop sig (‘take oneself tioning of grandfather as being responsible for together’), which is a distortion of the standard the explanation, but the stylistic level and the expression ta sig samman (‘put oneself together’) italics constitute strong contextual cues leading where the two verb particles ihop and samman to this interpretation. Once again we are dealing (‘together’) have the same concrete denotation, with three reformulations (avgörande insteget but are not in this case interchangeable. The last mot toppen ‘the decisive move towards the top’, variant bemanna sig (‘nerve oneself, embolden attacken ‘the attack’, anfallet ‘the assault’). oneself ’) has military connotations and is very It is worth noticing that the omission of the unusual, but is an expression also often appear- italics in the French version correlates with the ing in Enquist’s writings for adults (so is the use addition of a speech verb (grand-père explique of italics). ‘grandfather explains’) that explicitly ascribes In the French version the mimetic impres- the explanation to the grandfather. sion is less articulated, not only as a result of the omission of the italics, but also, and perhaps 17 The discourse used by grandfather in this example even more so, because of the omission of the is discussed in section 2. deictic time adverb nu (‘now’), the clause adverb TRANSLATING NON-STANDARD FORMS OF REPORTED DISCOURSE IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS: TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014 DEN TREDJE GROTTANS HEMLIGHET BY SWEDISH AUTHOR P.O. ENQUIST IN FRENCH AND GERMAN AS A CASE IN POINT
(11) [...] où ils passeront la nuit, avant […] wo sie vor dem entscheiden- […] där de skulle övernatta l’assaut final vers le sommet. den Einstieg in die zum Gipfel inför det avgörande insteget mot C’est comme ça qu’on doit führende Passage übernachten toppen. Det var så man skulle dire. On peut aussi appeler ça würden. So musste man sagen. 101 säga. Attacken kunde man också la charge finale. Grand-père Sturm auf den Gipfel konnte man säga. Om man ville komma upp explique que si on veut venir auch sagen. Wenn man das letz- den sista biten på en mycket svår à bout de la dernière étape de te Stück auf einen sehr schwie- bergstopp, som Mount Everest l’ascension d’une montagne très rigen Gipfel hinaufkommen till exempel, då skulle man med difficile, comme par exemple wollte, wie den Mount Everest ansats i det sista baslägret företa Mont Everest, il faut prendre zum Beispiel, dann würde man det slutgiltiga anfallet mot top- son élan dans le dernier camp vom letzten Basislager aus den pen. (p. 99) de base et monter à la charge endgültigen Sturm auf den Gipfel jusqu’au sommet. (p. 119) beginnen. (p. 90)
(12) Men morfar sa att nu får vi ta Soudain, Grand-père a dit qu’il Aber Großvater sagte: »Jetzt ihop oss faktiskt! Eller: Ta oss fallait qu’ils se ressaisissent. müssen wir uns wirklich zusam- samman! Eller: Bemanna oss! Qu’ils prennent sur eux ! (p. 23) mennehmen! Oder uns zusammen- (pp. 20f ) reißen! Oder uns ermannen! (p. 17)
faktiskt (‘indeed’) and the first two exclamation In (13), there is again a self-ironic tone in marks. The connective men ‘but’ is also omitted the two expressions that are marked by italics, in French; the sequence instead starts with the which indicates that they are quotations. The time adverbial Soudain (‘suddenly’): Soudain, underlying primary discourse acquires an itera- Grand-père a dit qu’il fallait qu’ils se ressaisissent. tive function through the long time adverbial at (‘suddenly grandfather said that they should pull the end of the sentence (när han ville ha med- themselves together’). Except for the presence känsla och ihållande applåder från barnbarnen vid of the exclamation mark found at the end of kvällens sagostund ‘when he wanted compassion the sequence, the French version thus presents and never-ending applauses from the grand- an indirect discourse according to the standards. children during the bedtime story’), as well as It sacrifices the word-play by omitting one of by the formula som han sa (‘as he said’). the reformulations, but renders the vivid style This time the French translation maintains of the original by the use of a completive in the a part of the first italicized expression, but second sentence that is governed by the verb in standardizes the rest. The fact that the italics the first sentence and followed by an exclama- are maintained here correlates with a restruc- tion mark: Qu’ils prennent sur eux ! (‘That they turing of the subordinate clause som han sa (‘as make a special effort!). The humorous effect he said’), which is translated as Grand-père aime of the repetition of Eller: (‘Or:’) disappears in raconter (‘grandfather loves to tell’) on a new the French version. The German version’s only line. The French version here presents an objec- standardization is the taking away of the colons. tive narrator. The German version keeps close CARINA GOSSAS & ULF NORBERG TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014
(13) Och så hade han hållit på och C’était dans le temps quand il Und so hatte er seine Orientie- ritat orienteringskartor på faisait ses devoirs par terre, dans rungskarten auf Butterbrotpapier 102 smörpapper på golvet i köket la cuisine de la minuscule mais gezeichnet, in der Küche der i den enkla stuga där han och on où il menait une existence Hütte, in der er und seine Mutter hans mamma levde sitt fattiga misérable avec sa pauvre mère. ein kärgliches Leben gelebt hatten, liv, som han sa när han ville ha Grand-père aime raconter comme wie er sich ausdrückte, wenn er medkänsla och ihållande applåder sa vie était dure quand il était petit. bei der abendlichen Märchen- från barnbarnen vid kvällens Mais il cherche surtout à attendrir stunde von den Enkelkindern sagostund. (p. 35). son auditoire et à récolter une ton- Mitgefühl und anhaltenden ner d’applaudissements. (p. 42) Applaus einhemsen wollte. (p. 31)
to the original, but standardizes this into the linguistic forms (conveying different stylistic pluperfect tense. features according to the context) and that there In our last example, (14), both the italicized normally is a variation between possible expres- adjectives (blanka och natursköna ‘blank and sions within a text (for example for the sake of scenic’) and the explicit speech verb (han kallade variation in rhythm or in order to indicate a ‘he called’) have been omitted in the French certain relationship between the narrator and translation, whereas the preposition phrase the characters, etc.). The exploration of different indicating the location (à la surface de l’eau ‘on citing techniques can actually be placed at the the surface of the water’) is left. As this cita- very heart of literary development. As indicated tion echoes the verbal interaction between the in section 3, linguistic research has recently protagonists, and points to the specific language presented different models to capture the forms used by the grandfather, it is also a character- that deviate from prevailing norms prescribed izing device that is lost. In the German version, by, for instance, normative grammars and refer- it is on the contrary kept. ence guides for writing. We saw that the sec- Interestingly, what is being neutralized in the ondary discourse can be more or less formally French version in this case is the adult voice of the and graphically separated from the primary grandfather (representing the author), and not the discourse, and that several blurred forms of the child’s language.18 This contributes to the neutral- traditional direct and indirect speech exist. izing of stylistic shifts, which make up one of the The aim of the study was to compare the stylistic features of the text, to the advantage of the French and German translations of non-stand- coherence and the readability of the text. ardized forms of reported speech in a children’s book where different forms of reported speech Conclusion played an important role, not only for the plot, but also for the characterization of the protago- A premise for this study was the fact that the nists. The hypothesis was that there would be characters’ voices are expressed by different standardization in both translations, since this has long been pointed out to be a general or 18 The neutralization of child language has been dealt even universal feature of translation. However, with in previous research, e.g. in Lindgren et al. (2007). we also hypothesized that the limit of accepta- TRANSLATING NON-STANDARD FORMS OF REPORTED DISCOURSE IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS: TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014 DEN TREDJE GROTTANS HEMLIGHET BY SWEDISH AUTHOR P.O. ENQUIST IN FRENCH AND GERMAN AS A CASE IN POINT
(14) Mina, till exempel, hade blivit en Mina, par exemple, c’est forgé Mina zum Beispiel war ein mycket starkare karaktär genom un caractère bien plus fort pen- sehr viel stärkerer Charakter att kajka omkring på sjön Vällen dant ses leçons sur le lac Vällen, geworden dadurch, dass sie 103 med morfars kommandorop grâce aux fameux mot d’ordre auf dem See Vällen herumge- årtag – vila, årtag – vila dånande qui resonne à la surface de l’eau: gurkt war, während Großvaters över den han kallade blanka och coup de rame – repos ! (p. 89) Kommandorufe Ziehen – ruhen! natursköna vattenytan. (p. 74) Ziehen – ruhen! über die, wie er sie nannte, glatte und naturschöne Wasseroberfläche hallten. (p. 67)
bility would not be the same in the two versions. self-confidence, and how the translator thinks The analysis showed that the hybrid forms that they as translators will be judged as trans- were standardized to a high degree in both the lators, if they reproduce deviant language . The French and German translations, but more in important shifts that have been observed in the French one. We proposed comparing the the French version seem to indicate that this formal separation of direct discourse and nar- crossover author has been translated according ration in terms of relative over-marking. It is to the prevailing norms of children’s literature, clear that both translations tend to use more and not according to the norms of adequacy graphical and formal markers to more clearly that we had assumed would be more dominant separate the two levels of enunciation. However, in the translation of a highly esteemed author the German version nevertheless keeps more such as Enquist. closely to the structure of the original. The Ger- man translation thus accepted more deviations RECIBIDO EN ENERO DE 2014 from norms and standard language, but the ACEPTADO EN MARZO DE 2014 punctuation norms were not transgressed. The VERSIÓN FINAL DE ENERO DE 2014 italics (when used as a reporting device) were to a high extent omitted in the French version, Primary sources but mainly maintained in the German version. Enquist, P.O. (2010). Den tredje grottans hemlighet. As one of the functions of the italics was to give Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren. form and shape to one of the characters, namely —(2011). Großvater und die Schmuggler. (Translated by Wolfgang Butt.) München: Carl Hanser. the old author and grandfather – and thus indi- —(2011). La montagne aux trois grottes. (Translated rectly to the relationship between him and the by Marianne Ségol-Samoy & Karin Serres.) children – this dimension is also to a certain Genève: La joie de lire. extent reduced in the French version. These standardizations of non-canonical Reviews forms of rendered speech can have several pos- Ekholm, S. «Per Olov Enquist: Den tredje grottans sible explanations. As indicated above, concerns hemlighet». Dagens Nyheter, Nov. 9, 2010. about teaching reading may have crossed the Israelson, P. «Enquists text griper aldrig tag». Svenska minds of the translators. It is a question of Dagbladet, Nov. 2, 2010. CARINA GOSSAS & ULF NORBERG TRANS. REVISTA DE TRADUCTOLOGÍA 18, 2014
Lindroth, M. «Per Olov Enquist: Den tredje grottans Freunek, S. (2007). Literarische Mündlichkeit und hemlighet». Göteborgs-Posten, Oct. 27, 2010. Übersetzung. Am Beispiel deutscher und russischer Lötscher, C. «Grossvater und die Schmuggler». Buch Erzähltexte. Berlin: Frank & Timme. 104 & Maus, Heft 1, 2010. Genette, G. (1987). Seuils. Paris: Seuil. Pro Senectute Schweiz, Prix Chronos «Per Olov Gossas, C. & U. Norberg (2012). «Voices and imi- Enquist: Grossvater und die Schmuggler». tation in the translation of children’s books: The Ricochet, Institut suisse Jeunesse et Média.
Svenska barnboksinstitutet (SBI) (2004). Dokumen- —(2013). «Voice in the Field of Translation Studies». tation och statistik. 2003 års utgivning.
Effects. Selected Papers of the CETRA Research Stark i P1 (Radio interview with P.O. Enquist) Seminar in Translation Studies 2009, pp. 1-16. Dec. 21, 2010.