Gabriel the Victorious and Hungarian Fiction in Contemporary English Translation. Phd Thesis
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Aniko, Szilagyi (2018) Gabriel the Victorious and Hungarian fiction in contemporary English translation. PhD thesis. https://theses.gla.ac.uk/30644/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Gabriel the Victorious and Hungarian Fiction in Contemporary English Translation Anikó Szilágyi MA, MLitt, MPhil Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD School of Modern Languages and Cultures College of Arts University of Glasgow September 2017 Copyright © 2017 Anikó Szilágyi ii Abstract This thesis employs multiple methodologies in order to explore Hungarian fiction in contemporary English translation as a distinct body of literature. It comprises three interrelated contributions: a bibliography, three case studies, and a translation. A bibliography of English translations of Hungarian novels published between 2000 and 2016 is presented in Appendix A, and Chapter 1 contains an overview of contemporary Hungarian-to-English fiction translation based on the bibliographic data, including a description of the assembly process. Chapters 2-4 focus more closely on a selection of these texts, tracing publication histories as well as target culture reception and interpreting translation shifts. Chapter 2 considers the language of Seiobo There Below by László Krasznahorkai (2013, tr. Ottilie Mulzet) in relation to the author’s vernacular oeuvre, and offers meta-artistic commentary on the target text. Chapter 3 investigates the concept of corporeal writing in Parallel Stories by Péter Nádas (2011, tr. Imre Goldstein), arguing that the organising principle of the source text is compromised in translation, which produces a fragmented work. Chapter 4 uncovers and categorises translation shifts in Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb (2002, tr. Len Rix) as an example of a recently translated Hungarian classic. Chapter 5 connects the analytical section of the thesis with the creative component that follows it. It departs from traditional academic discourse and uses a more reflective, lyrical mode of writing to explore the subjectivity of the translator and introduce the new text to its English-language readership. Finally, my English translation of the 1967 Hungarian novel Győzelmes Gábriel by György Méhes is presented under the title Gabriel the Victorious. iii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgement ................................................................................................................ vi Epigraph ............................................................................................................................... vii List of Abbreviations .......................................................................................................... viii Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Contributions and Methodologies.................................................................................. 3 Practice-based Research ................................................................................................ 3 Benefits ........................................................................................................................ 10 Chapter 1. Hungarian Literature in Contemporary English Translation: An Overview ...... 12 Studying Hungarian Literature in English ....................................................................... 12 About the Bibliography ................................................................................................... 17 Generic Considerations and Other Parameters ............................................................ 17 Data Collection ............................................................................................................ 21 What the Data Reveals ..................................................................................................... 25 Probing the Canon-in-translation ................................................................................. 29 Areas for Further Study ............................................................................................... 32 Chapter 2. László Krasznahorkai’s Seiobo There Below ..................................................... 35 Krasznahorkai and His Translators .................................................................................. 35 Negotiating the Language: Seiobo’s Exaggerated Experimentalism ............................... 38 Stylistic Considerations ............................................................................................... 38 Style and Meaning in the TT ....................................................................................... 41 Translation about Translation: Seiobo as Meta-text ........................................................ 46 Conclusion: How to Read Seiobo in Translation ............................................................. 50 Chapter 3. Péter Nádas’s Parallel Stories ........................................................................... 52 Close Reading Carnality: Gyöngyvér and Ágost ............................................................. 62 Chapter 4. Antal Szerb’s Journey by Moonlight ................................................................. 70 A Hungarian Classic in Contemporary Translation ......................................................... 70 Introduction: Old Texts in New Translation ................................................................ 70 Antal Szerb, Cosmopolitan and Anti-Fascist............................................................... 72 The Language of Journey by Moonlight .......................................................................... 77 Mistranslations ............................................................................................................. 77 Stylistic Shifts .............................................................................................................. 80 Dialogue: Pragmatic Shifts .......................................................................................... 83 Interpreting Shifts: Journey by Moonlight in English ..................................................... 87 Archaisation and Overtranslation ................................................................................ 87 Nostalgia and Foreignness ........................................................................................... 90 Concluding Remarks on the Case Studies ....................................................................... 94 iv Chapter 5. Translating Gabriel: Reflections and Foreword ................................................. 97 Appendix A. Bibliography of Hungarian Novels Published in English Translation 2000- 2016 .................................................................................................................................... 125 Appendix B. Bibliography of Published English Translations Subventioned by the Hungarian Books and Translations Office 2000-2016 ...................................................... 129 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 130 v Acknowledgement This research was made possible by the first ever PhD scholarship in Translation Studies from the College of Arts of the University of Glasgow, and two residencies at the Hungarian Translators’ House (Magyar Fordítóház). This thesis is dedicated to Colin. vi Epigraph Thank fuck it’s over. vii List of Abbreviations BNB British National Bibliography HBTO Hungarian Books and Translations Office [Magyar Könyv-és Fordítástámogatási Iroda] HLO Hungarian Literature Online LAF Literature Across Frontiers P-a-R practice-as-research SC source culture SL source language ST source text STT source text title TC target culture TL target language TT target text TTT target text title WDS Wischenbart Diversity Report viii Introduction Quick, name a Hungarian novelist. You get one point for Arthur Koestler and two points for the Nobel Prize winner Imre Kertesz, who had two books (out of 12) translated into English before he won the prize, and now has five. Take another three points for Peter Esterhazy, who has seven books in English, though he is better known in Europe than in the United States. (Smiley 2009) The above quotation is from a review, published on The New York Times website, of The Book of Fathers (2007, Apák könyve [2000], trans. Peter Sherwood) by contemporary Hungarian novelist Miklós Vámos. The playful tone of the reviewer’s opening gambit may not seem out of line with the usual informal register of online book reviews aimed at the general public, but its content, which will certainly baffle both the Hungarian reader and literary scholar, reveals