The Stylistic Identity of the Metapoet: A corpus-based comparative analysis using translations of modern Greek poetry Iraklis Pantopoulos Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Literatures Languages and Cultures University of Edinburgh March 2009 I hereby certify that this material, which I submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of Doctor of Philosophy, is entirely my own work and has not been taken from the work of others save to the extent that such work has been cited and/or acknowledged within the text of my work. No part of this thesis has been submitted for any other degree or qualification. Signed Iraklis Pantopoulos Date: 20 th March 2009 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor Şebnem Susam-Sarajeva for patiently overseeing my long and strenuous transition from undergraduate student to researcher. Her insightful criticism and meticulous approach have been of great benefit to me and my work. I also owe a great debt to a number of people for their help during the various stages in the development of this study. David Connolly offered valuable guidance and support during the early formative stages, and has been eager to help throughout the process. Marion Winters guided me in honing my methodology and focus, and helped me embrace the corpus-based approach. I am also grateful to Charlotte Bosseaux for her help and feedback during the final stages of the thesis. I owe special thanks to Maria Filippakopoulou who was an inspiration when I was starting out on this path and was also, selflessly, there to help me at the end. The love and support of my family I will never be able to repay. Everything good in me comes from them. Without Stefi I would never have found the strength to do this. iii Table of Contents List of Tables ....................................................................................................................................... vii List of Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................... viii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 3 TH 1 TRANSLATING 20 CENTURY GREEK POETRY: FACTORS AND PEOPLE ......................................................................................................... 7 1.1 Modern Greek Poetry and its place in the Anglophone World .......................................... 7 1.1.1 Modern Greek Poetry and Language: A troubled relationship ............................................ 7 1.1.2 A History of Modern Greek Poetry in English Translation ............................................... 15 1.1.3 The Translators .................................................................................................................. 18 1.2 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 24 2 TRANSLATORS THEORISING ............................................................ 26 2.1 Rae Dalven ............................................................................................................................ 27 2.1.1 On Language ..................................................................................................................... 27 2.1.2 On Literature ..................................................................................................................... 31 2.1.3 On Style ............................................................................................................................. 33 2.1.4 On Translation ................................................................................................................... 37 2.2 Kimon Friar .......................................................................................................................... 39 2.2.1 On Language ..................................................................................................................... 39 2.2.2 On Literature ..................................................................................................................... 41 2.2.3 On Style ............................................................................................................................. 45 2.2.4 On Translation ................................................................................................................... 47 2.3 Edmund Keeley and Phillip Sherrard ................................................................................ 54 2.3.1 On Language ..................................................................................................................... 54 2.3.2 On Literature ..................................................................................................................... 56 2.3.3 On Style ............................................................................................................................. 59 2.3.4 On Translation ................................................................................................................... 63 2.4 David Connolly ..................................................................................................................... 69 2.4.1 On Language ..................................................................................................................... 69 2.4.2 On Literature ..................................................................................................................... 73 2.4.3 On Style ............................................................................................................................. 76 2.4.4 On Translation ................................................................................................................... 79 3 TRANSLATIONAL STYLISTICS: A CORPUS-BASED APPROACH .. 83 3.1 Corpus Translation Studies: From the “universal” towards the individual ................... 83 3.1.1 Corpus Linguistics and Descriptive Translation Studies ................................................... 83 3.1.2 Norms, laws and “universals” ........................................................................................... 86 3.2 Style and Translation Studies .............................................................................................. 91 iv 3.2.1 Style, stylistics and approaches to translation ................................................................... 93 3.2.2 Style as choice and the translator of literature ................................................................... 97 3.2.3 Ideology as Style in translation ....................................................................................... 101 3.2.4 Cognitive aspects of style in translation .......................................................................... 103 3.3 Style and the translator: Corpora-based models ............................................................. 107 3.3.1 Translational Stylistics .................................................................................................... 107 3.3.2 The translator’s style as “thumb-print” ............................................................................ 109 3.4 Some notes on the case of poetry translation ................................................................... 113 3.4.1 Stylistics and poetry: Some advantages and key features ................................................ 114 3.4.2 Poem, Metapoem and Metapoet ...................................................................................... 116 3.4.3 Poetic text worlds / Poetic effects .................................................................................... 117 3.5 Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 119 3.5.1 General Theoretical Issues............................................................................................... 119 3.5.2 Designing the Corpus ...................................................................................................... 121 3.5.3 Specialized Corpus of English Translations Of Modern Greek Poetry (SCETOMGP)... 122 3.5.4 Building the Corpus ......................................................................................................... 127 3.5.5 Corpus Analysis............................................................................................................... 129 3.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 132 4 ONE POET, DIFFERENT METAPOETS: ROUGH DATA RETRIEVAL AND ANALYSIS ........................................................................................ 134 4.1 C. P. Cavafy ........................................................................................................................ 134 4.1.1 Finding a ‘thread’ to pull: Word Statistics....................................................................... 135 4.1.2 Distinctive Features, Stylistic Choices and Impact: Translating “Ηδονή” ...................... 139 4.1.3 Translating Universal Aspects of Style: Foregrounding/Parallelism in Cavafy .............. 144 4.2 George Seferis ....................................................................................................................