The Translators' Tale
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The Translators’ Tale A translator-centred history of seven English translations (1823 - 1944) of the Grimms’ fairy tale, Sneewittchen By Niamh Chapelle A thesis submitted to the Joint Faculty of Humanities of Dublin City University for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Supervisor: Prof. Jenny W illiam s School of A pplied Languages and Intercultural Studies Joint Faculty of H um anities D ublin City U niversity M a y 2 0 0 1 DECLARATION I hereby certify that this m aterial, w hich I now subm it for assessm ent on the program m e of study leading to the aw ard of D octor of Philosophy, is entirely my ow n w ork and has not been taken from the w ork of others, save and to the extent that such w ork has been cited and acknow ledged w ithin the text of m y ow n work. Signed: Student Num ber: 97970980 Date: M ay 2001 For Colm and my mother, a hero and a heroine. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I w ould like to thank first and forem ost m y supervisor, Dr. Jenny W illiam s, for her support, encouragem ent and, above all, her unw avering enthusiasm , w hich was at tim es m uch needed and alw ays greatly appreciated during the preparation of this thesis. Thanks are due also to other m em bers of staff in SALIS, w ho provided additional support, advice and survival tips, in particular M aryan M artin, Dr. Eithne O ’C onnell, Dr. A nnette Sim on, Dr. D orothy K enny, Dr. M ichael Cronin and Dr. Jennifer Pearson. Prof. Susan B assnett at W arw ick U niversity provided useful insights at an early stage. I could not have com pleted m y research w ithout funding from the SALIS Research C om m ittee, w hich m ade possible m y visits to the B ritish Library in London, or the research scholarship aw arded to m e by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, w hich enabled m e to spend three w eeks in the archive of the B rüder Grim m M useum in K assel. Dr. Bernhard Lauer and U rsula R oggensack were m ost helpful during my tim e there. There is not sufficient space here to list each of the individual archivists and librarians w ho assisted m e in m y attem pt to locate inform ation on translators and translations. I m ust record m y particular gratitude to: G ayle M . Barkley at the H untington Library in California, who provided a copy of Edgar T aylor’s letters to Bow ring; Sheila M cC abe at the City of W estm inster archives, who searched for inform ation on M atilda Davis; The N ew Y ork Public Library, who provided copies of D inah M ulock’s letters to M acm illan in the B erg Collection of English and A m erican Literature; Dr. M ichael B ottt at the U niversity of R eading Library, w ho provided copies of M argaret H unt’s letters to Edw ard Bell in the Bell archive; The Cornell U niversity Library in N ew York, w ho provided copies of M argaret and V iolet H unt’s diaries, held in the Ford M adox Ford Collection; Tara W enger of the H arry Ransom H um anities Research Center at the U niversity of Texas at A ustin, w ho provided copies of B eatrice M arshall’s letters; M argaret Jonas of the A nthroposophical Society in G reat Britain and U rsula Seeber at the Literaturhaus D okum entationsstelle für neuere österreichische Literatur, w ho located obituaries and articles on N orbert Glas. I am indebted to M ichael Glas for his w illingness to discuss w ith m e his father’s background and translation. Thanks are due to Joanna Barrett at G loucestershire Library Services for initially putting m e in contact with M r. Glas. Dr. R ichard D ove, Dr. Charm ion B rinson and Prof. J.M . R itchie provided valuable advice on locating inform ation on Jew ish e x i l e s . Thanks also to Sally Mitchell for her comments on Dinah Mulock; Alexander Baron and Julian Duifiis, who advised on the genealogical searching; and Dr. Niall Finneran of the Society of Antiquaries of London, who searched for information on Edgar Taylor and David Jardine. Dr. Gerald Opie at the University of Exeter and Dr. Susanne Stark at the University of Leeds both helped me locate relevant reading matter. Dr. Andrea Me Tigue at NUI Maynooth provided stimulating comments on the Grimms' tales. I am grateful to my fellow inhabitants of the SALIS postgrad room, whose interest in my work and sense of humour helped make the time spent researching in DCU a stimulating and enjoyable experience. I am indebted to my mother for her unwavering encouragement and a great deal of practical help, and to my grandmother, family and friends, in particular Susan, Lorraine, Audrey, Tom. and David, for their moral support. Mrs. Nora Bradley deserves a special mention for her faith. Last, but certainly not least, Colm ’s love, support, patience with printers, and willingness to talk about translation (even on a Saturday night!), proved invaluable in helping me complete this thesis. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract xii Abbreviations xiii INTRODUCTION: BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGY 2 0.1 Introduction ¿L r 0 . 2 B a c k g r o u n d 2 0 . 2 . 1 T ranslation history in Translation Studies 2 0.2.2 M ethodological concerns in translation history 3 0.2.3 Historical-descriptive approaches to translation 4 0.2.4 Pym ’s principles for translation history 5 0 . 2 . 5 Translators in translation history 6 0.2.5.1 Histories of translators 9 0.2.5.2 The problem of uniting translators, texts and contexts 1 0 0.3 Methodology 1 1 0 . 3 . 1 Introduction: a translator-centred m odel for translation history 1 1 0.3.2 Corpus selection 1 3 0.3.2.1 Source text 1 3 0.3.2.2 Translations 1 5 0 . 3 . 3 Bio-bibliographical research 1 7 0.3.4 Analysis of paratextual material 2 0 0 . 3 . 5 A nalysis of translation practices 2 2 0 . 4 C o n c l u s i o n 2 5 CHAPTER ONE: THE KINDER- UND HA USMÀRCHEN A N D KHM 5 3 , SNEEWITTCHEN 2 7 1 .0 Introduction 2 7 1 .1 T h e Kinder- und Hausmdrchen 2 7 1 . 1 . 1 The brothers Grim m 2 7 1 . 1 . 2 C ontext for publication 2 7 1.1.3 The Grimms’ sources 2 8 1 . 1 . 4 Publishing history 3 0 1 .] .5 E ditorial histoiy 3 1 1 . 1 . 6 The Grimm ‘genre’ 3 2 -1 r\ i z KHM 5 3 , Sneewittchen 3 3 1 .2 .1 B a c k g r o u n d 3 3 1.2.2 Analysis 3 3 1.2.2.1 Plot 3 3 1.2.2.2 Taboo content 3 4 1 . 2 . 2 . 3 Repetition 36 1.2.2.4 Syntax 3 9 1.2.2.5 Spoken-language features 4 0 1 . 2 . 2 . 6 T o n e 4 1 1 . 2 , 2 . 6 , 1 M o r a l t o n e 4 1 V 1.2.2.6.2 Diminutives 4 2 1.3 Conclusion 4 3 CHAPTER TW O : TRANSLATION HISTORY OF THE KINDER-UND HAUSMÄRCHEN 4 5 2.0 Introduction 45 2.1 Overview 4 5 2 . 2 KHM translations in England 46 2 . 2 . 1 The Sin-Complex ( 1 9 9 6 ) 4 7 2 . 2 . 2 The lim itations of evaluative, text-based approaches 5 0 2 . 2 . 3 Transculturations: Making Sleeping Beauty ( 1 9 9 8 ) 5 1 2 . 3 Tales and Translation ( 1 9 9 9 ) 5 2 2 . 4 The Grimm ‘genre’ in translation 54 2 . 5 Translators as storytellers 5 4 2.6 Conclusion 55 HAPTER THREE: SNOW-DROP BY EDGAR TAYLOR AND DAVID JARDINE (1823) 5 8 3 . 0 German Popular Stories 5 8 3 .1 T he translators 6 0 3 . 1 . 1 The translators and the text 6 4 3 . 2 Paratextual m aterial 6 5 3.2.1 Preface 6 5 3.2.1.1 Target audience 6 5 3.2.1.2 Purpose 6 5 3.2.1.3 Source text 7 1 3.2.1.4 Approach to translation 71 3.2.1.5 Germany 72 3 . 2 . 2 Translators’ N otes 7 4 3.3 Translation analysis 74 3 . 3 . 1 Sutton’s analysis of Snow-drop 7 4 3.3.2 Length 75 3 . 3 . 3 Taboo content 7 6 3.3.4 Repetition 7 8 3.3.5 Syntax 82 3 . 3 . 6 Spoken-language signals 8 3 A 3 . 3 . 7 T o n e O 3.3.7.1 Moral tone 8 4 33.1.2 D im inutives 8 5 33.1.3 E m o t i o n s 8 6 3.4 Taylor and Jardine’s ‘imprint’ on Snow-drop 8 7 3.5 Conclusion 90 VI CHAPTER FOUR: LITTLE SNOW-WHITE BY MATILDA DAVIS (1855) 93 4.0 Home Stories 93 4.1 The translator 95 4.2 ‘Prefatory Remarks’ 96 4.2.1 Target audience 96 4.2.2 Purpose 96 4.2.3 Source text 98 4.2.4 Approach to translation 99 4.2.5 Germany 99 4.3 Translation analysis 102 4.3.1 Length 102 4.3.2 Taboo content 103 4.3.3 Repetition 105 4.3.4 Syntax 108 4.3.5 Spoken-language features 109 4.3.6 Tone 111 4.3.6.1 Moral tone 111 43.6.2 Diminutives 112 43.6.3 Emotions 114 4.3.7 Influence of previous translations 115 4.4 Davis’s ‘imprint’ on Little Snow-white 116 4.5 Conclusion 118 CHAPTER FIVE: LITTLE SNOWDROP BY DINAH MULOCK (1863) 120 5.0 The Fairy Book 120 5.1 The translator 121 5.1.1 The translator and the text 124 5.2 Paratextual material 126 5.2.1 Preface 126 5.2.1.1 Target audience 127 5.2.1.2 Purpose 127 5.2.1.3 Source text 128 5.2.1.4 Approach to translation 128 5.2.1.5 Germany 129 5.2.2 Advertisement 129 5.3 Translation analysis 129 5.3.1 Length 129 5.3.2 Taboo content 130 5.3.3 Repetition 132 5.3.4 Syntax 134 5.3.5 Spoken language features 135 5.3.6 Tone 136 5.3.6.1 Moral tone 136 vii 53.5.2 Diminutives 137 5.3.6.3 Emotions 138 5.3 .7 Influence of previous translations 139 5 4 Mulock's ‘imprint’ on Little Snow-drop 140 5.5 Conclusion 142 CHAPTER SIX: THE MAGIC MIRROR BY MRS.