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A Case Study of Shakespeare's Translators in Gujarati

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A Case Study of Shakespeare's Translators in Gujarati Towards The Name And Nature Of Translator Studies: A Case Study Of Shakespeare’s Translators In Gujarati PJAEE, 18(4) (2021) Towards the Name and Nature of Translator Studies: a Case Study of Shakespeare’s Translators in Gujarati. 1Dr. Sunil Sagar ,2Anjali Ramnani. 1Associate Professor & Head, Department of Communication Skills,Marwadi University, Rajkot,Gujarat, India 2Academic Associate, Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur,Rajasthan, India. Dr. Sunil Sagar ,Anjali Ramnani, Towards The Name And Nature Of Translator Studies: A Case Study Of Shakespeare’s Translators In Gujarati, Palarch’s Journal Of Archaeology Of Egypt/Egyptology 18(4). ISSN 1567-214x. Keywords:Translation history, translator studies, Shakespeare, translation history in Gujarat. Abstract Translation history in Gujarat has been focused on addressing objective questions pertaining to translations, such as which translation occurred in which year and sometimes, who translated them. However, in order to arrive at a holistic and fuller account of translation history, we need to delve deeper into these facts and derive newer interpretations. This paper argues that by focusing on the human dimension of the translation, i.e. translator studies, we can get a more authentic and complete account of translation history of these translations. For the purpose of substantiating this claim, we have taken up the case study of Shakespeare’s translators in Gujarati. This paper shows that by studying about the life and works of these translators in detail, we can understand the translations of Shakespeare’s plays in Gujarati in a more comprehensive way. It concludes by emphasising on the need of translator studies and how this study can open up new vistas of research in the field of translation studies. 1. Introduction Translation history in India so far has been all about focusing on facts and putting together bibliographies and lists, which delineate who translated what and when. However, it is equally important to focus on the translator, who makes the translation possible in the first place. While it is necessary to find out the date of a translation, it is also imperative to shed light on the translator and his life. In other words, it is necessary that we trace not only the story of the text in translation but also trace the story of the translator. It was Andrew Chesterman who used the phrase in the title of his celebrated paper, “The Name and Nature of Translator Studies”. When it comes to translation history of Indian languages, translations are generally documented in a superficial way and translators are barely acknowledged in the process. However, the fact of the matter is that it is impossible to produce a complete account of the translation as it exists without taking into consideration the translator and his myriad motivations. The reason for pursuing translator studies is that, at times, it is the only way to decode the translation history of a particular translation. The process of translation is far from being an objective act; in fact it is a process that entails subjectivity at each stage – selection of the text, poetics deployed by the translator, form and style 2080 Towards The Name And Nature Of Translator Studies: A Case Study Of Shakespeare’s Translators In Gujarati PJAEE, 18(4) (2021) chosen by either the translator or his patron, etc. Translators, at times, work under various influences and have various motivations to render the translation in a particular form. Until and unless we decodewhy and how the translator translated in a particular manner, several aspects of translation history such as choice of the text and methods adopted for translation would never be clear to us.The nuances which emanate from choices and inclinations of the translator form the locus of translation history which would shed more light on the translations, translation process, the translators and agencies/individuals which patronized translators. The pursuit of translation history in Gujarati is far from being rigorous. There are multiple volumes on Gujarati literature depicting the seminal and ordinary works of Gujarati literature. In these volumes, there are vague details of some, and not alltranslations which were undertaken over the course of history. However, the role of the translator and details about his/her life await due acknowledgement and appreciation. We barely know anything about these individuals, their life, their works, what motivated them to take up translation and why they chose a particular form to translate the text. In this way, ‘translator studies’ in Gujarat is a rich site that can lend meaningful insights into translation history of the state. For the purpose of substantiating this claim, a case study of Shakespeare’s translators in Gujarati has been undertaken. 2. The need for ‘Translator Studies’ in India and Indian languages An endeavour to uncover translation history in its entirety mandates us to view the translator as an individual who is accorded a complex presence shaping and being shaped by diverse factors. S/he is no longer just an objective medium of cultural transfer. In the process of translation, his inclinations and external factors that influence him/her play a major role in the way translations take form. Translators can have myriad motivations to translate a particular text in a particular way. As Andre Lefevere conveys explicitly and emphatically that translations are not ‘produced in a vacuum’ and the translators operate in ‘a given culture’. It is how the translators perceive their roles, their culture,and the culture of the source text that determines the way they translate. It is also pertinent to note that the way they understand these aspects evolves with the change of time period. It is no longer held true that there are no power relations involved in a translation and that the translator acts freely and translates without being influenced. There’s a growing need to understand the role played by patrons, powerful individuals, agencies, publishers, translation scholars etc. which influence the translator and shape the translation in different ways. Hence, it is imperative to explore the life and work of translators which can help us to reconstruct the historical context of the translation. In fact, LievenD’hulst in his paper Translation History states that the first object of translation history is the translator; it is necessary that we unearth the translator’s “intellectual and social backgrounds (training, gender, socio-economic, ideological and cultural profile)” as he puts it (399).Gentzler and Tymoczko assert that translators are not just translators but they, ‘as much as creative writers and politicians, participate in the powerful acts that create knowledge and shape culture’. (Gentzler/Tymoczko xxi)In a similar vein, Luise Von Flotowstates, "the modest, self- effacing translator who produces a smooth, readable target language version of the original has become a thing of the past"(76) We can no longer continue to believe that the translator is on a quest to produce a faithful translation of the source text in an innocent fashion. There are nuances to the way translators undertake translation and we need to rigorously examine the same in order to shed new light on the existing ways translation history is interpreted. Lefeverequotes Du Bellay who offers the ‘bluntest statement’ which refers to curtailing the translator’s freedom when he says: “the obedience one owes to patrons admits of no excuse”. In the light of these insights, it is evident that mere listing down of translations with superficial details does not serve the purpose of writing translation history. In order to work out a detailed translation history, we will need to delve into the human dimension of translation and analyse the way the translator behaved and made crucial choices during the process of translating a text. In order to reconstruct translation history in an accurate fashion, we will need to find out the translator’s motives and inclinations to undertake the translations as well as the influence of 2081 Towards The Name And Nature Of Translator Studies: A Case Study Of Shakespeare’s Translators In Gujarati PJAEE, 18(4) (2021) individuals and agencies around the translator. For this, we need to focus upon issues related to power relations between translator and the patron(s), support and guidance offered by individuals, and the control mechanisms such as censorship if it existed and affected the translation. Even the poetics of translation is determined by the literary choices made by the translator. The translator has the power to shape the translation in a particular way. More importantly, he/she has the liberty to deviate from the source text and s/he can adapt it to the receiving culture so that it is received well. Merely studying a translation in isolation eliminates the possibility of studying how a translator deviated from the source text and rendered a translation that is more palatable to the readership s/he has in mind. As Andrew Lefevere states in Translation, History, Culture: Patrons circumscribe the translators’ ideological space; critics tend to circumscribe their poetological space. To make a foreign work of literature acceptable to the receiving culture, translators will often adapt it to the poetics of that receiving culture. De la Motte, for instance, justifies his cutting down of the Iliad to a work half the size of the original by remarking: “Would a theatre audience accept having characters come out during the intervals in a tragedy to tell us all that is going to happen next? Would it approve if the actions of the principal characters were interrupted by the business of the confidants? Certainly not”. He was merely adapting the epic to the requirements of the genre that was dominant in his day and age: the tragedy. Any elements in the Homeric epic that went against the poetics of the tragedy quite simply had to be deleted for the translation to find any audience at all.
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