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Translation As Criticism Translation as Criticism Translation as Criticism: Elizabeth Jolley’s Mr Scobie's Riddle By Anna Gadd Colombi Translation as Criticism: Elizabeth Jolley’s Mr Scobie’s Riddle By Anna Gadd Colombi This book first published 2018 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2018 by Anna Gadd Colombi All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-1101-4 ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-1101-9 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ..................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements .................................................................................. viii Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 Chapter One ................................................................................................. 5 Translating Elizabeth Jolley with a Source-oriented Approach 1.1 The Outlook of the Migrant: Elizabeth Jolley’s Experience and its Impact on Mr Scobie’s Riddle ............................................... 5 1.2 An Approach to Translating Australian Literature ........................ 11 Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 20 Narratological Analysis of Mr Scobie’s Riddle 2.1 Setting ............................................................................................ 20 2.2 Free Indirect Discourse, Narrator, Voice, Point of View and Distance in Mr Scobie’s Riddle ............................................... 29 2.3 Noise, Sound and Music in Mr Scobie’s Riddle ............................. 45 2.4 Language and Languages in Mr Scobie’s Riddle ........................... 55 Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 72 Translational Analysis of L’indovinello di Mr Scobie 3.1 Treatment of Key Words in Translation: Losses and Compensations ........................................................................ 73 3.1.a Conceptual Words in L’indovinello di Mr Scobie ................. 73 3.1.b Kicking the Bucket and Kicking the Air: the Expression of Death in Translation ............................................................. 88 3.1.c Fields of Expression: the Fugue of Voices, Noise, Sound and Music in L’indovinello di Mr Scobie ................................. 98 3.2 Deixis in Translation .................................................................... 109 3.3 Treatment of Culture-specific Elements in L’indovinello di Mr Scobie ................................................................................ 127 3.4 Intertextuality and Interculturality in L’indovinello di Mr Scobie ................................................................................. 142 vi Table of Contents Conclusion ............................................................................................... 156 L’indovinello di Mr Scobie: An Academic Source-oriented Translation of Mr Scobie’s Riddle .............................................................................. 160 Bibliography ............................................................................................ 327 ABSTRACT A tendency to sacrifice culture-specific elements and stylistic peculiarities to preserve bello scrivere can be found within Australian literature translated into Italian. Norms and rules existing in the target language and culture (Italian) are in fact often prioritised over an author’s own writing technique and elements specific to the source culture. Accordingly, unmarked structures are also often preferred to marked structures, with the result that Australian literature is often homogenised, its Australianness blurred. On the other hand, a small number of Italian translations of Australian literature excel in their attempt to be source-oriented, oriented towards the original, its cultural and stylistic peculiarities, rather than target-oriented. Translations done following this approach inspired my academic translation into Italian of Elizabeth Jolley’s Mr Scobie’s Riddle. In my doctoral thesis I translated Elizabeth Jolley’s Mr Scobie’s Riddle into Italian in its entirety, aiming for the preservation of culture-specific elements and Jolley’s stylistic peculiarities and using compensation strategies wherever the cultural gap between Australia and Italy, or the structural differences between English and Italian, could potentially cause a loss in translation. In order for the specificity of Jolley’s novel to be maintained in translation, three types of analysis were undergone: the first, a narratological analysis of the novel; the second, a translational analysis of the novel to translate, a type of analysis carried out before the beginning the translation process; finally, an analysis of the translated text and the main issues stemming from the contrast between the two languages and cultures involved. This publication brings together the translation and the analysis, the practice and the theory behind it, in an attempt to show the thought process behind my translational choices. In order to be successful in my attempt to preserve culture-specific elements and stylistic peculiarities across the translational process I adopted a method oriented towards the source, which prioritises the source text’s peculiarities and culture-specific elements while being transported into another language. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The three years spent on my doctoral thesis at The University of Western Australia have been a path of discovery: not only have I learnt and discovered in the discipline of Translation Studies, the main discipline of my doctoral research and an ongoing interest since my undergraduate studies, and Australian literature, a newfound interest, but I also discovered my vocation to teach at tertiary level, an extremely challenging yet gratifying activity, from what I can gather so far. None of this would have been possible without the international scholarships allocated by the Graduate Research School and Postgraduate Association at The University of Western Australia. I am extremely thankful for the incredible opportunity to study a doctoral degree and to live life in Perth, Western Australia. I am forever indebted to my supervisors, Prof. John Kinder and Prof. Tanya Dalziell who helped me choose a topic of interest, in particular a Western Australian novel to translate into Italian and make available for Italian readers. Prof. Tanya Dalziell, in particular, guided me in the initial phases of the writing of my PhD thesis, a time when I was still unsure how to approach a doctoral degree. My warmest thanks go to Prof. John Kinder, a wonderful mentor for me in the course of these three years, always available to help me and support me throughout the three years of my PhD. Thanks to Prof John Kinder and Prof. Marinella Caruso I had the chance to do some casual teaching both in the School of Italian and in the Masters of Translation Studies. I would like to thank them both for the opportunity, as I would like to thank all of my colleagues in the School of Italian, both the Professors and the PhD students, for the shared experiences and mutual support during the course of my PhD. I am also indebted to Prof. Hélène Jaccomard and Prof. Meng Ji, who provided me with the opportunity to lecture in Translation Studies. I would also like to thank Prof. Kieran Dolin for the much appreciated help in the final phases of this work. Translation as Criticism: Elizabeth Jolley’s Mr Scobie’s Riddle ix My deepest and most sincere thanks go to my husband Adam, for the inspiration, love and continuous support in stressful times, and to family in Italy who, despite being on the other side of the planet, have been helpful and supportive of my intent during all the phases of this doctoral degree. My mother Patrizia and my father Francesco have sustained me and imparted words of wisdom via Skype calls and even text messages; my aunties Noemi, Roberta, Elda, Luciana, Federica and uncles Tiziano, Luciano, Flavio, Giuseppe and Ettore, my cousins Chiara, Flavia, Elena, Fabio and Andrea have always been available for discussions on the topic of this book every time I would be back in Italy during winter breaks. Our family friend and former swim coach Eric is another person I would like to thank for the support shown. My sister Angela has continuously supported me throughout the different stages of the publication of this book. I would also like to thank my brother Antonio, for making me as competitive as I am by pushing me to the limit in our adolescence. Finally, both my nonno Andrea and my nonna Enrica, always proud of my achievements, have been a major inspiration to bring this work to completion. I would like to say ‘grazie’ to all of these people for their continuous affectionate support. This publication contains only sole-authored work, some of which has been published and/or prepared for publication under sole authorship. The bibliographical details of the work and where it appears in the thesis are outlined below: Gadd, Anna. “Space and Language in Mr Scobie’s Riddle”. JASAL: Journal of the
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