TABLEOFCONTENTS TABLEOFCONTENTS 4 1 INTRODUCTION 6 2 THEDEFINITIONOFTHEGENRE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT 7 2.1 DefinitionoftheGenre,ItsCharacteristicFeatures,Its Outset andBases 7 2.2 TheComicsinDevelopment,ItsFormsandTransformations 9 2.2.1 ThePredecessorsof theComicgenre 10 2.2.2 TypesofComics 11 2.2.3 TheDevelopmentofComics intheUnitedStates andinEurope 14 2.2.3.1 ComicStripsOvertheOcean 14 2.2.3.2 Europeancomics 21 2.2.3.2.1 CzechComics 27 3 TRANSLATIONPROBLEMS 35 3.1 TranslationCategories 37 3.1.1 Linguistic Featuresin TranslationTheory 37 3.1.2 CulturalFeaturesinTranslationTheory 40 3.1.3 Technical Aspectsof ComicTranslation 44 4 TRANSLATIONANALYSIS 45 4.1 LinguisticItems inAnalysis 46 4.1.1 Degreesof Formality 48 4.1.1.1 LowerDegreeofFormality 48 4.1.1.2 HigherDegreeofFormality 60 4.1.2 StylisticallyActiveDevices 65 4.1.3 TheOutcomeoftheLinguisticAnalysis 78 4.2 CulturalItemsinAnalysis 79 4.2.1 AnalysingCharacters’Names 79 4.2.2 AnalysingGeographicalandTopographicalNames 82 4.2.3 AnalysingCulturalReferences 85 4.2.4 TheOutcomeofCulturalAnalysis 90 4.3 Technical Aspectsin Analysis 91 4.3.1 TheOutcomeofTechnicalAnalysis 95 4 5 CONCLUSION 95 6 WORKSCITED 99 7 APPENDIX 103 5 1 INTRODUCTION The focus of this M.A.thesis lies inthe translationof comic literature withthe aim of disclosingitsspecificfeatures bymeansofanalysingCzechversionsofcomic books. The actual analysis will be preceeded by an introduction to the genre itself, to its definitionandcharacteristics aswell asonitsdevelopment.Thegeneraldevelopmentwill be succeeded by the progress in particular countries which represent the leading comic books producers: The United States, France and Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Great Britain. A separate subchapter will be devoted to history of Czech comics for that simple reason that my work is concerned with translation from English into Czech which makesaninsightintothegenre intwodifferentculturesa properthing. After the introduction into the topic, the attention will switch to providing some backgroundfor the analytical passage of the thesis.Boththeoretical andpractical translation procedures will get debated within this chapter, the first being based on Jiří Levý’s Introduction to the Theory of Translation and The Art of Translation Peter Newmark’s A Textbook of Translation while the latter draws on interviews conducted with Czech comic translatorsRichardPodanýandViktorJaniš. Now that the topic has been presented and the building material for the analysis accorded,it will be possible tomove ontothe actual analytical process.This will be done in three steps according to categories of translation problems. Their order will be as follows: linguistic,cultural andtechnical.Witheach,the actual translationmethods usedwill be listed, their percentual share inthe whole category statedanda conclusion onthe overall translation strategywill be drawn.Consequently,anattempt will be made todetect the especial moments ofcomictranslation. The concludingchapter of the thesis will sum up brieflythe contents andthe findings madeinthesearchofspecificsofcomictranslation. 6 2 THEDEFINITIONOFTHEGENRE AND ITSDEVELOPMENT The followingsectionof mythesis provides the general literaryandcultural definition of the genre and its characteristic features, including its rise and origins. The subsequent subdivisionof the genre will alsobe debated.It will be followedbybrief documentationof its development all over the world,withthe mainfocus laidonthe UnitedStates of America and Great Britain. A separate section will be devoted to the history of the genre in the Czech environment. 2.1 DefinitionoftheGenre,ItsCharacteristicFeatures,Its OutsetandBases The term “comics”,shortenedfrom “comic strips”,employedtodesignate a series of comical pictures,refers toa syncretic genre whichcombines graphic,literary,dramatic,and film art.However,it is not identical withany of these forms (based onPavera and Všetička 2002).Onthe contrary, as Urbanová andKotrla (1996) notice,it appears sospecific that the term “semantics of comics” was coined,covering its basic characteristics. The term comprises thefollowingbasicfeaturesofthegenre: i) closenesstoliterarysources–asa rule,comicsmusttella story. ii) the artistic components as anautonomous area withits own rules andpatterns. The artistic components include the speechballons as the basic element of the semanticsofthegenre. iii) the dramatic character of the genre,producedby dramatic situations,conflicts anddialogues,realizedinthecharacters’speech. iv) the film features employedincomics andits compositionwhichis basedon shotssimilartothose takenbycamera(basedonUrbanováandKotrla1996). The basis of the comic genre is formed by chaining visual elements and action, employing the methods of film-editing and montage. The techniques are accompanied by 7 (usually) undemandingdrawingrepresentingthe plot,followedbythe necessarytext inthe form of speech ballons (based on Pavera and Všetička 2002). On some occassions, Vlašín (1984) mentions, the pictures are accompanied by an explanatory text beneath. Similarly, Urbanová andKotrla (1996) distinguishbetweentwotypes of text incomic genre: “free text” (13), occurring outside the picture and supplying the narrator’s task – introduction to the story,toa new situation or,contrariwise,the closure of the story.This kindof text may also include small commentary remarks. On the other hand, the so called “embodied text” (13) stands for the direct speech,beingconnectedtothe characters’ utterance or feelings.A great variabilityexists inthe shape andthe colour of the speechballons,andthus intheir meaning: if including a dialogue, the text is placed into a speech ballon connected to the speaking character. Serving as an expression for the characters’ ideas, it takes the shape of cloudlet (basedonUrbanováandKotrla1996). AccordingtoPavera andVšetička (2002),other features typical of the genre include action, visuality, sequentionality, elipsis, dialogic character, schematism (resulting from figural character), and linearity. Originally, comic stories were written as continued stories whichprovidedforthefeatureofserialization. As Urbanová and Kotrla (1996) reveal, the genre has gradually developed series of conventions and codes which contributed to better understanding of the story. The codes concerned especially the external graphic signs characterizing the heroes, their physical appearance, their features, reactions and relationships to other characters. To provide an example of conventionalized forms of expressingvarious reactions of the characters,let me mentionraisedeyebrows or eyes wide openas a signof surprise. Other examples include the reappearance of the types of characters results in schematism which has become popular subjectof parodyorthe victoryofthegoodheroandthefinaldefeatofthe badguy. 8 Since the rise of comics,a number of protests concerning use of violence in the genre arose whose supporters claimedthat its employment has serious impact onchildren psyche. The UnitedStates of the 50s have put it intodirect connectionwiththe increase incrime rate. Sucha negative claim has ledtothe employment of censorship inthe name of democracyand humanity. The U.S. publishing house Premium has come with its own ten censorial rules concerning the most important forbidden premise: nonpunishable breaking the law, the prohibitionof children’s incitement tocrime,avoidance of torturescenes,etc.,primarilywhen engaging children in the plot. The maJority of American comic literature continues on followingtheserules,withtheexceptionofcomicstargetedat adult readership. All in all,comics results from combination of visual and verbal code – the picture and the word–whichrepresent the most important elements of the genre.Typical of comics is disproportionof drawings andtext as it is the drawingwhichusuallydominates the comics. The dominance of the visual code over the verbal increases the attractivity of the genre for the reader whosees it as a source of entertainment andrelaxation.This makes clear that the two elementscooperateanddonotcontradict eachother(cf.Alánová2005). The precedingchapter has providedthe definitionof the comic genre anddrawnyour attentiontoits basic features andalsothe rules governingthe comic creative effort.Besides, the conventions that have graduallydevelopedthroughout the historyof the genre have also beencommentedon.Thefollowingchapterwillelaborateonthehistoryofcomics. 2.2 TheComicsinDevelopment,ItsFormsandTransformations The historical development of the comic genre over the world will be subjected to study in the subsequent part of my thesis. Its predecessors and pioneers as well as an abundance of types will be discussed.Attentionwill be paidtoits rise andevolutioninthe United States and Great Britain in particular since the two locations gave rise to the most 9 important representatives of comics and to the appearance of new comic forms. The development of comic literature in the Czech environment will also be summed up in a separatechapter. 2.2.1 ThePredecessorsof theComicgenre Generally, it is assumed that comics came to being at the turn of the 19 th and 20 th centuries. However,the form appears tohave muchlonger history: as Clair andTichý(1967) state,comics represents a relativelyoldatristic form as it is basedona natural humanneedof communicativeness which first took the shape of of storytelling by means of pictures. Therefore,our ancestors’ mural paintings canbe consideredthe first example of comic art. Further, its precursors include antique monuments, such as the ancient