University of Pardubice Faculty of Art and Philosophy Wilbur Smith´s "Egyptian novels" Martina Urbánková Master thesis 2011 Prohlašuji: Tuto práci jsem vypracoval samostatně. Veškeré literární prameny a informace, které jsem v práci využil, jsou uvedeny v seznamu použité literatury. Byl jsem seznámen s tím, že se na moji práci vztahují práva a povinnosti vyplývající ze zákona č. 121/2000 Sb., autorský zákon, zejména se skutečností, že Univerzita Pardubice má právo na uzavření licenční smlouvy o užití této práce jako školního díla podle § 60 odst. 1 autorského zákona, a s tím, že pokud dojde k užití této práce mnou nebo bude poskytnuta licence o užití jinému subjektu, je Univerzita Pardubice oprávněna ode mne požadovat přiměřený příspěvek na úhradu nákladů, které na vytvoření díla vynaložila, a to podle okolností až do jejich skutečné výše. Souhlasím s prezenčním zpřístupněním své práce v Univerzitní knihovně. V Pardubicích dne 31. 3. 2011 Martina Urbánková ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: I would like to express my gratitude to prof. PhDr. Bohuslav Mánek, CSc. for his valuable guidance and support throughout the process of writing the thesis. Furthermore, I would like to thank Ing. Dalibor Míček, Ph.D. for his worthy advice and information. ABSTRACT This Diploma thesis deals with Wilbur Smith´s tetralogy of “Egyptian” novels and through the consequent analysis tries to reveal the main thematic domains on which the whole series is based on. The preface discusses the theoretical terminology concerning genres such as adventure novel, historical novel and their overlapping and resulting in the genre historical adventure novel for Egyptian series belong into this genre. Then, the biography of the famous author Wilbur Smith with his labelling as a postcolonial writer follows. Thereafter, the principal focus of this work is on the analysis where the main revealed thematic domains regarding historical authenticity, sexuality and violence in terms of incidence and significance. Finally, the complexity of translation of Egyptian novels is dealt with where the main focus is on Smith´s style of writing concerning lexical as well as syntactic features. All these aspects are compared with Czech translations and potential problems discussed. As a matter of the fact that two different translators participated on translating the tetralogy, the complexity of this issue with consequent conclusions are presented too. KEY WORDS: historical fiction, adventure novel, post-colonialism, translation, historical authenticity, violence, sexuality, figures of speech ABSTRAKT Tato práce se zabývá tetralogií Wilbura Smithe nazývanou Egyptské romány taktéž známou jako Řeka bohů I-IV. Pomocí analýzy se práce zaměřuje na vymezení tematických pilířů, na kterých je série založena, a to z pohledu četnosti výskytu a důležitosti věnované těmto tématům, jak z pohledu samotného auta, tak i literárních kritiků a čtenářů. Úvod práce je zaměřen na vytyčení podstatné literární terminologie vymezující žánr, do kterého Řeka bohu I-IV spadá. Dále je zmíněn sám autor jako představitel post-koloniální literatury včetně díla a vlastní biografie. Poté následuje samotná analýza s hlavními třemi pilíři, a to tématem ztvárnění sexuality, násilí a historické autentičnosti, na kterých svá díla Smith postavil. Poslední část práce je věnována problematice českého překladu se zřetelem na dva různé překladatele. KLÍČOVÁ SLOVA: historický román, dobrodružný román, post-kolonialismus, překlad, historická autentičnost, násilí, sexualita, literární figury TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 10 1 CHARACTERIZATION OF A HISTORICAL ADVENTURE NOVEL ............. 11 1.1 CHARACTERIZATION OF A NOVEL ......................................................... 11 1.2 CHARACTERIZATION OF A HISTORICAL NOVEL ................................ 13 1.3 CHARACTERIZATION OF AN ADVENTURE NOVEL ............................. 16 2 BIOGRAPHY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................. 20 2.1 WILBUR SMITH´S LIFE ............................................................................... 20 2.2 WILBUR SMITH AS A POSTCOLONIAL WRITER ................................... 22 2.3 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................ 23 3 WILBUR SMITH´S “EGYPTIAN NOVELS” ....................................................... 25 3.1 CATEGORIZATION OF “EGYPTIAN NOVELS”........................................ 25 3.2 PLOT OVERVIEW .......................................................................................... 25 3.2.1 RIVER GOD ............................................................................................. 25 3.2.2 THE SEVENTH SCROLL ....................................................................... 26 3.2.3 WARLOCK .............................................................................................. 27 3.2.4 THE QUEST ............................................................................................. 28 3.3 ANALYSIS OF EGYPTIAN NOVELS ......................................................... 28 3.3.1 VIOLENCE & BLOOD ............................................................................ 29 3.3.2 SEXUALITY ............................................................................................ 33 3.3.3 HISTORICAL ACCURACY .................................................................... 37 4 THE COMPLEXITY OF TRANSLATION OF WILBUR SMITH´S “EGYPTIAN NOVELS” ....................................................................................................................... 46 4.1 TRANSLATION OF THE TITLES AND THE SERIES ................................ 46 4.2 DISTINGUISHED TRANSLATIONS OF DEDICATIONS .......................... 47 4.3 VARIOUS TRANSLATORS ........................................................................... 48 4.3.1 DALIBOR MÍČEK ................................................................................... 49 4.3.2 VÁCLAV VANDUCH ............................................................................. 50 4.4 WILBUR SMITH´S STYLE OF A DISCOURSE AND ITS WAY OF TRANSLATION ......................................................................................................... 51 4.4.1 STYLE AS A WAY OF AUTHENTICITY AND ITS CONSEQUENT TRANSLATION ..................................................................................................... 51 4.4.2 SIMILES AS A SIGNIFICANT TROPE WITHIN SMITH´S STYLE AND ITS TRANSLATION ..................................................................................... 53 4.4.3 TRANSLATIONS CONCERNING LEXICAL STRUCTURES WITH THE MAIN FOCUS ON PROPER NAMES .......................................................... 56 4.4.4 TRANSLATIONS CONCERNING SYNTACTIC STRUCTURES ....... 58 5 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 62 6 RESUMÉ ................................................................................................................. 66 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 70 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................ 76 9 INTRODUCTION This work will deal with Wilbur Smith´s tetralogy “Egyptian” novels and through the consequent analysis will be revealed as the main thematic domains on which the whole series is based on. The topic of this diploma thesis was selected on subjective personal criteria as the entire compilation belongs to my favourite kind of novels which I have read several times. Thus, I managed to interconnect the area of my interest with studying issues. In the preface the theoretical terminology concerning genres such as adventure novel, historical novel and their overlapping and resulting in the genre historical adventure novel for Egyptian series belong into this genre will be discussed Then, the biography of the famous author Wilbur Smith with his labelling as a postcolonial writer will follow. The whole biography will be summarized. Thereafter, the Principal focus of this work will be an analysis of the tetralogy Egyptian novels where the thematic domain regarding historical authenticity will be revealed, sexuality and violence in terms of incidence and significance. Finally, the complexity of translation of Egyptian novels will be dealt with where the main focus will be on Smith´s style of writing concerning lexical as well as syntactic features. From a stylistic point of view, there will be described figures of speech, namely simile, as an individual artistic style of Smith´s writing altogether with thoughtful shift from present-day English into Old-fashioned style. Concerning syntactic structure a slight alteration will be discovered. Nevertheless it will be in compliance with translation norms. All these aspects will be compared with Czech translations and potential problems will be discussed. As a matter of the fact two different translators participated in translating the tetralogy, the complexity of issue with consequent conclusions will be presented too. 10 1 CHARACTERIZATION OF A HISTORICAL ADVENTURE NOVEL To preface relatively complex characterization of the genre historical adventure novel, it is fundamental to underscore that genres can overlap and it is not at all different with this type of literature. In terms of terminology this