ENGLISH 1 Module B - Stylistics and Translation - WEEK 4 - LECTURE 1 Dr. Margherita Dore - Lettere e Filosofia
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ENGLISH 1
Module B – Stylistics and Translation
Lettere e Filosofia
Laurea Magistale
2018-2019
WEEK 4 - LECTURE 1
Dr. Margherita Dore
margherita.dore@gmail.comOverview • Ezra Pound and Foreignization • The Cognitive Turn in TS • Cognition and Context • Cognitive stylistics and Translation • Translating the Mind in the Text • Translated Literature • Effect(s)
Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
• Creative energy of translation
• Pound’s ‘reading’ of Chinese ideograms, based on the
notes of Ernest Fenollosa (1853–1908)
• Experimental practice
– Deliberately archaicizing or ‘Make it new’ (cf. His translation of
Cavalcanti’s poetry in Dolce stil nuovo into ‘pre-Elizabethan English’)
• Influenced Haroldo de Campos (1929–2003)
– Transcreation
– Brazilian cannibalism: revitalization of the past (transcreation ->
taking of the life energies of the ST and their re-emergence in the
TT)Poetry – Example 1
Ezra Pound’s translation of Cavalcanti’s sonnet
Io vidi li occhi dove Amor si mise
Io vidi li occhi dove Amor si mise I SAW the eyes, where Amor took his place
quando mi fece di sé pauroso, When love's might bound me with the fear
che mi guardar com'io fosse noioso: thereof,
allora dico che 'l cor si divise;
Look out at me as they were weary of love.
e se non fosse che la donna rise, I say: The heart rent him as he looked on this.
i' parlerei di tal guisa doglioso, And were't not that my Lady lit her grace,
ch'Amor medesmo ne farei cruccioso, Smiling upon me with her eyes grown glad,
che fe' lo immaginar che mi conquise. Then were my speech so dolorously clad
That Love should mourn amid his victories.
Dal ciel si mosse un spirito, in quel punto
che quella donna mi degnò guardare, The instant that she deigned to bend her eyes
e vennesi a posar nel mio pensero: Toward me, a spirit from high heaven rode
And chose my thought the place of love's
elli mi conta sì d'Amor lo vero, verities
che ogni sua virtù veder mi pare That all Love's powers did my sight accost
sì com'io fosse nello suo cor giunto. As though I'd won unto his heart's mid-most.The Cognitive Turn in TS A general shift of focus from the observation of behaviour to speculation about the cause of that behaviour in the mind (Graham 1992: xiiff.). Three views: 1. Cognitive science into literary criticism 2. Study the way language is use in literature to understand the mind (Conceptual Metaphor Theory; Lakoff 1987). 3. Neither (Stockwell 2002).
The Cognitive Turn in TS The value of cognitive approaches might be expected to lie in their potential to help us understand issues about literary comprehension, universality, and the difference between literary and non-literary texts. This question of the difference between literary and non-literary texts has always been central for translation studies and the main focus of the difference is style. So cognitive approaches are attractive not least because they promise to help in providing insights into the nature and effects of the difference (Boase-Beier 2006: 72).
The Cognitive Turn in TS • Understanding the effects of style on the mind involves a consideration of cognitive processes. • Most cognitive stylistics, especially in the area of metaphor is concerned to show that the very basis of cognition is the body and the senses. Universality vs relativity: We know that environment shapes the brain (Phillips 2005), and this is likely to be true of all experience. For Tabakowska (1993: 3) it is exactly this meeting of biological sameness and cultural difference that is especially important for a cognitive approach to translation.
Cognition and Context The cognitive view of context has affected approaches to the translation of style in two ways 1. The ‘translator-as-reader’ view has been able to move from the meaning implied by the text to the meaning inferred from the text by the translator. 2. The ‘translator-as-writer’ view has been able to become much more sensitive to questions of reader interaction and expectations, to the interplay between the creativity and freedom of the translator and how this must always be affected by what the reader of the target text might do, feel and decide.
Cognitive stylistics and Translation • i) Meaning is more than the words on the page. • ii) Reading is a cognitive process. It is also a major part of the translator’s task. • iii) With all the freedom and involvement of the reader, we are still always trying, not just in literature, but in every type of communication, to find a reading which is more than merely personal. • iv) What does cognitive stylistics have to say about the difference between literary and non-literary texts? • v) And if there are universal features of literature (and of other text- types), what is their relation to the culture-specific and the context-specific? • vi) If reading a text for translation means inferring an author, assuming a meaning, finding something we can act upon, can we accept that we are merely acting as though we knew what the author meant? Can we balance a sense of our ultimate ignorance with the need to act?
Translating the Mind in the Text
Point of view is the perspective from which the fictional world is
presented.
Mind style is the way in which the fictional world is perceived.
(Semino & Swindlehurst 1996)
Mind style is a textual feature. The translator might reconstruct an
authorial voice, but still be aware that it is a reconstruction and that
it is not identical with the real author’s voice.
Because Tennyson wrote in the voice of a suicidal murderer in
‘Maud’ (1894), it does not mean this was Tennyson’s own situation,
or even inclination, in spite of the view of some of his contemporary
critics (Thwaite 1996:322) (Boase-Beier 2006: 76).
Think about the novel you are reading…Poetry - Example 2
Ich lese in der Zeitung, dass die Mörder /von Mord und
Totschlag nichts gewusst --. (HABEN or HÄTTEN)
(von Törne 1981:56)
Lit. Transl. ‘I read (present tense) in the paper, that the
murderers ... known nothing of murder and manslaughter’.
(Translating goes beyond the words on the page and involves
finding a way to reproduce the gap in English, so that the
same options (as far as possible) are open to the English
reader).Translated Literature • Translated literature in particular could be seen to change the mind in three ways: • i) by acquainting us with thoughts or feelings we had not experienced, or reflected on, or known to exist; • ii) by showing us that other people experience them; • iii) by allowing us to experience those thoughts or feelings for ourselves.
Prose - Example 3 Taken from Camilleri’s ‘La sigla’ (as suggested by Cipolla 2006) Calorio non si chiamava Calorio, ma Calorio was not his name, but in Vigata the in tutta Vigata lo conoscevano con whole town knew him as Calorio. About questo nome. Era arrivato in paisi non twenty years back, he had turned up in town si sa da dove una ventina d’ anni from God knows where, with a pair of avanti, un paro di pantaloni ch’ erano britches that were draftier than a barn on più pirtusa che stoffa, legati alla vita account of the many holes, tied with a rope con una corda, giacchetta tutta pezze around his waist, and with a raggedy jacket pezze all’arlecchino, piedi scavusi ma so patched up he looked like a circus clown. pulitissimi. Campava dimandando la He walked barefoot, but his feet were limosina, ma con discrezione, senza spotless. He scraped along by begging but dare fastiddio, senza spavintare without making a nuisance of himself, never fimmine e picciliddri. Teneva bene il bothering nobody, or scaring the womenfolk vino, quando poteva accattarsene or young’uns. He held his liquor so well, una bottiglia, tanto che nessuno when he could scare up enough to buy l’aveva veduto a malappena brillo: e himself a bottle, that nobody ever saw him dire che c’erano state occasioni di even slightly pickled; although there had feste che di vino se n’era scolato a been times on Feast days when he had put litri. away quite a few quarts.
Effect(s) • A literary author’s aim is to make the reader search; the translation must keep whatever prolongs that search, not just because the enhancement of cognitive state will be greater, but because the search will be better. Translation which gives away too much too easily could be seen to have failed in this particular task. • The tendency to make things easy for the reader can be seen especially when the original text has several possible interpretations. • Studies of the style of translated texts generally see the style as the result of choice, and thus, ultimately, if not explicitly, of a cognitive state driving that choice (the author’s and the translator’s…)
Mind in the Text • The notion of mind in the text can, be approached from the point of view of the mind constructed as inhering in the source text and affecting the reader in a particular way or as being the cognitive state suggested by the interaction of inferred author mind style and translator mind style. • The mind in the text is influenced by ideology (cf. Fowler et al. 1997) it takes a particular attitude (e.g. irony) or it embodies a particular feeling (sympathy). • The second aspect of mind in the text, that it carries an attitude conveyed by the style, is particularly important in the translation of irony, where the attitude towards the subject matter, if lost, would alter the translation completely.
In general… • Cognitive approaches to style and translation rely on the interplay of stylistic universals with stylistic characteristics peculiar to an individual language, culture or view. • For translation, a cognitive view might suggest that what is universal will be more easily translated than what is culturally or linguistically diverse.
James Joyce's The Dubliners
She was fast asleep. Era profondamente addormentata.
Gabriel, leaning on his elbow, looked for a Gabriel, appoggiato su un gomito, guardò per
few moments unresentfully on her tangled alcuni minuti, senza rancore, i suoi capelli
hair and half-open mouth, listening to her scarmigliati e la bocca dischiusa, e ascoltò il
deep-drawn breath. So she had had that suo respiro profondo. Nella sua vita, dunque,
romance in her life: a man had died for her c’era stata un’avventura, un uomo era morto
sake. It hardly pained him now to think how per lei. Ora non gli dava quasi più pena
poor a part he, her husband, had played in pensare a quanta poca parte lui, suo marito,
her life. He watched her while she slept as aveva avuto nella sua vita. La os- servava
though he and she had never lived together mentre dormiva, come se lui e lei non avessero
as man and wife. His curious eyes rested mai vissuto insieme come marito e moglie. I
long upon her face and on her hair: and, as suoi occhi curiosi si fermarono a lungo sul volto
he thought of what she must have been e sui capelli di lei, e nel pensare a quella che
then, in that time of her first girlish beauty, doveva esser stata allora, al tempo della sua
a strange friendly pity for her entered his prima bellezza d’adolescente, si sentì
soul. He did not like to say even to himself pervadere da una strana, fraterna compassione
that her face was no longer beautiful but he per lei. Non gli piaceva ammetterlo nemmeno
knew that it was no longer the face for con se stesso, che quel volto non era più così
which Michael Furey had braved death. bello, tuttavia sapeva che non era più il volto
per il quale Michael Furey aveva affrontato la
morte.James Joyce's The Dubliners - KEY
She was fast asleep. Era profondamente addormentata.
Gabriel, leaning on his elbow, looked for a Gabriel, appoggiato su un gomito, guardò per
few moments unresentfully on her tangled alcuni minuti, senza rancore, i suoi capelli
hair and half-open mouth, listening to her scarmigliati e la bocca dischiusa, e ascoltò il
deep-drawn breath. So she had had that suo respiro profondo. Nella sua vita,
romance in her life: a man had died for dunque, c’era stata un’avventura, un uomo
her sake. It hardly pained him now to think era morto per lei. Ora non gli dava quasi più
how poor a part he, her husband, had pena pensare a quanta poca parte lui, suo
played in her life. He watched her while she marito, aveva avuto nella sua vita. La os-
slept as though he and she had never lived servava mentre dormiva, come se lui e lei non
together as man and wife. His curious eyes avessero mai vissuto insieme come marito e
rested long upon her face and on her hair: moglie. I suoi occhi curiosi si fermarono a lungo
and, as he thought of what she must have sul volto e sui capelli di lei, e nel pensare a
been then, in that time of her first girlish quella che doveva esser stata allora, al tempo
beauty, a strange friendly pity for her della sua prima bellezza d’adolescente, si
entered his soul. He did not like to say sentì pervadere da una strana, fraterna
even to himself that her face was no longer compassione per lei. Non gli piaceva
beautiful but he knew that it was no longer ammetterlo nemmeno con se stesso, che quel
the face for which Michael Furey had volto non era più così bello, tuttavia sapeva
braved death. che non era più il volto per il quale Michael
Furey aveva affrontato la morte.ENGLISH 1
Module B – Stylistics and Translation
Lettere e Filosofia
Laurea Magistale
2018-2019
WEEK 4 - LECTURE 2
Dr. Margherita Dore
margherita.dore@gmail.comOverview
• Ambiguity and textual gaps (and their opposite)
• Foregrounding, salience and visibility
• Metaphor, mind and translation
• Iconicity, mimesis and diagesis
• Cognitive stylistics and the pretence of translation
18/05/19 Pagina 20Ambiguity • As a stylistic characteristic it involves the presence of structures in a text which have multiple meaning; its universal status in linguistics is gen- erally seen to result from the arbitrariness of the relation between signs and meanings • In cognitive stylistics, ambiguity is also of especial interest because it can be seen as expressing a cognitive state in which several different and possibly contradictory thoughts are entertained at the same time. • Early writers on translation, regarding ambiguity as a stylistic fault, saw it as the translator’s job to resolve it.
Ambiguity • The question for the translator is then this: should s/he keep the ambiguity in the target text, or, regarding it as an anomaly that arises in written language, make no attempt to preserve it? • Ambiguity may be removed intentionally in literary translation, because it is seen as a fault, or its implicatures may be missed. But in non-literary texts such as newspaper and magazine articles, many instances of ambiguity are disambiguated in context. Their effect depends upon the linear process of reading, so they first attract attention and create a situation where multiple meanings are held in mind, to be then resolved into only one.
Example 1
Non fiori ma firme contro il palazzo
(Panorama, 15.4.2004
There are two sources of disambiguation in the
accompanying text: a photograph of Publio Fiori and the
phrase “the vice- president ... Publio Fiori”, both of which tell
us this is the name of a person, a fact which many Italian
readers would already know. After reading the article, the
uncertainty is removed (Boase-Beier 2006: 88)Ambiguity and Humour Translation
What’s black and white and red all over?
A newspaper.
ITALIAN VERSION:
Che cosa è nero, bianco e rosso ovunque?
A. L’Unità, or (a Communist newspaper)
B. Una zebra con l’abbronzatura (a zebra with a sunburn)
NOTE: The first “red” retains the “read” association, while the
second “red” does not.
(Chiaro [2008]: 580)
18/05/19 Pagina 24Exercise 1 0001 00:00:03:23 00:00:04:23 12 0010 00:00:33:13 00:00:34:22 16 "GO" "GO DEEP" 0002 00:00:05:20 00:00:07:00 14 0011 00:00:35:12 00:00:36:24 18 "GO ON" "GO STEEP" 0003 00:00:07:22 00:00:09:17 22 0012 00:00:38:16 00:00:40:05 19 "GO FIRST" "GO SEE" 0004 00:00:10:00 00:00:11:16 20 0013 00:00:41:23 00:00:43:24 24 "GO FORTH" "TRY, DARE" 0005 00:00:14:18 00:00:16:15 23 0014 00:00:44:17 00:00:46:16 24 "GO EXPLORE" "GO EVERYWHERE" 0006 00:00:18:10 00:00:21:19 40 0015 00:00:48:08 00:00:50:03 22 "GO WITH THE WAVES, "INTO THE STORM" LEAD THE BRAVE" 0016 00:00:53:07 00:00:56:02 34 0007 00:00:22:06 00:00:23:24 21 EMBRACE THE UNKNOWN "GO BOLD" 0017 00:00:56:06 00:00:59:22 44 0008 00:00:24:03 00:00:25:18 19 THE FIRST-EVER BMW X4 "GO STRONG" 0009 00:00:27:10 00:00:30:04 33 "GO TO OCEANS WHERE NO ONE'S GONE"
Exercise 1- Key The Italian version: 0001 00:00:03:23 00:00:04:23 12 0010 00:00:33:13 00:00:34:22 16 "VAI" "VAI FINO IN FONDO" 0002 00:00:05:20 00:00:07:00 14 0011 00:00:35:12 00:00:36:24 18 "VAI AVANTI" "VAI IN ALTO" 0003 00:00:07:22 00:00:09:17 22 0012 00:00:38:16 00:00:40:05 19 "VAI PER PRIMO" "VAI A VEDERE" 0004 00:00:10:00 00:00:11:16 20 0013 00:00:41:23 00:00:43:24 24 "VAI OLTRE" "PROVA, OSA" 0005 00:00:14:18 00:00:16:15 23 0014 00:00:44:17 00:00:46:16 24 "VAI E ESPLORA" "VAI OVUNQUE" 0006 00:00:18:10 00:00:21:19 40 0015 00:00:48:08 00:00:50:03 22 "CAVALCA L’ONDA, "NELLA TEMPESTA" SFIDA IL MONDO" 0016 00:00:53:07 00:00:56:02 34 0007 00:00:22:06 00:00:23:24 21 ABBRACCIA L’IGNOTO "SII AUDACE" 0017 00:00:56:06 00:00:59:22 44 0008 00:00:24:03 00:00:25:18 19 LA PRIMA BMW X4 "SII FORTE" 0009 00:00:27:10 00:00:30:04 33 "VAI IN QUEGLI OCEANI MAI RAGGIUNTI"
Foregrounding, salience and visibility
• Foregrounding has been extensively explained during
Module A (cf. PPTs or read Chapter 4 in Boase-Beier
2006). To recap, in Fowler’s words, involves the “use of
some strategy to force us to look” (1996:57). One of the
cognitive effects of foregrounding is to make readers
rethink their views of the world
• In translation in can be achieves via:
1. Lack of smoothness, as a sign of the awkwardness
(somehow positive)
2. translationese (somehow negative)
• Visibility, PPTs Week 3 on Venuti.
• Salience, according to Relevance-Theory view calls a
“communicative clue”Foregrounding and Frames - Exercise 2
Dust if you must ~ Rose Milligan ~
Dust if you must, but _______ it be _______
To _______ a picture or _______ a letter,
_______ a cake or _______ a seed,
_______ the difference between _______ and _______ ?
Dust if you must, but there’s not _______ _______ ,
With rivers to _______ and mountains to _______ ,
Music to _______ and books to _______ ,
Friends to _______ and life to _______ .
Dust if you must, but the _______‘s out there,
With the sun in your _______ and the wind in your _______ ,
A _______ of snow, a _______ of rain,
This day will not _______ _______ again.
Dust if you must, but _______ in _______ ,
Old age _______ _______ and it’s not _______ ,
And when you _______ (and go you must)
You, _______ , will _______ _______ dust.
18/05/19 Pagina 28Exercise 2 – Key
Dust if you must, but wouldn’t it be better Spolvera se devi, ma non sarebbe meglio
To paint a picture, or write a letter, Dipingere un quadro, o scrivere una lettera,
Bake a cake, or plant a seed; Fare un dolce, o piantare un seme? Ponderare
Ponder the difference between want and need? la differenza tra volere ed aver bisogno.
Dust if you must, but there’s not much time, Spolvera se devi. Ma non c’è molto tempo Con
With rivers to swim, and mountains to climb; fiumi in cui nuotare e monti da scalare!
Music to hear, and books to read; Musica da ascoltare e libri da leggere, Amici
Friends to cherish, and life to lead. da godersi e una vita da vivere.
Dust if you must, but the world’s out there Spolvera se devi. Ma c’è un mondo là fuori
With the sun in your eyes, and the wind in your Con il sole negli occhi,
hair; Il vento tra i capelli,
A flutter of snow, a shower of rain, Uno spruzzo di neve, una pioggia improvvisa.
This day will not come around again. Questo giorno non ritornerà .
Dust if you must, but bear in mind, Spolvera se devi. Ma ricordati,
Old age will come and it’s not kind. La vecchiaia arriverà e non sarà gentile. E
And when you go (and go you must) quando andrai, e andare devi,
You, yourself, will make more dust. Tu, proprio tu, creerai altra polvere.
(Sergio Valentini)
18/05/19 Pagina 29Metaphor, Mind and Translation • Newmark describes the translation of metaphor as the “most impor- tant particular problem” (1995:104), and makes a number of suggestions for translating the different types such as “dead”, “cliché”, “standard”, “adapted”, “recent” and “original” metaphors (1995:105-113). • For a translator, if the violation of semantic constraints which the metaphor suggests works in the world of the source text, there is no reason why it should not work in the world of the target text. • It seems important, therefore, that a translator respect this particular feature of poetic metaphor, rather than assuming that it works like non-poetic metaphor, in expressing the abstract in terms of the concrete.
Metaphor, Mind and Translation In general, cognitive views should be able to tell us something about the following three areas which might be seen to play a role in translating metaphor: i) universality versus particularity in metaphor ii) whether different linguistic types of metaphor should or can be or are translated in different ways iii) whether metaphor is a purely linguistic or even an “ornamental” figure or whether it constitutes thought on a much deeper level, and how such a distinction might affect translation.
Exercise 2 Translate the passage from Fiends, Series 1 and try and retain the metaphor in it. [Context: Ross has just been left by his lesbian wife and he is very upset. He suggests that if there is only one woman for every man he has lost his chance to be happy. Joey tries to cheer him up] Joey: What are you talking about? ‘One woman’? That's like saying there's is only one flavor of ice cream for you. Lemme tell you something, Ross. There's [sic.] lots of flavors out there. There's Rocky Road, and Cookie Dough, and Bing! Cherry Vanilla, You could get 'em with Jimmies or nuts, or whipped cream! This is the best thing that ever happened to you! You got married, you were, like what, eight? Welcome back to the world! Grab a spoon! Ross: I honestly don't know if I'm hungry or horny!
Exercise 2 –Key Translate the passage from Fiends, Series 1 and try and retain the metaphor in it. • Joey: Ma di che diavolo stai parlando? ‘Una sola donna’? Sarebbe come dire:‘Hai solamente un unico gusto di gelato da scegliere’. Lascia che ti dica una cosa. Ci sono un sacco di gusti da scegliere. C'è il gusto Rocky, il gusto Gianduia, e Bingo! Ciliegia vanigliata. Li puoi mangiare con le cialde o con le noci o con la panna montata! Questa è la cosa migliore che ti sia mai successa! Ti sei sposato che, quanti anni avevi? Otto? Bentornato alla vita. Prendi un cucchiaino di gelato! • Ross: Francamente non so se sono affamato o nauseato.
Bibliography What we studied so far: • Munday, Jeremy (2016), Introducing Translation Studies. Theories and Applications, 4th edition, Routledge, London/New York – CHAPTERS 1, 3, 4, 5 • Jean Boase-Beier (2006), Stylistic Approaches to Translation, London: Routledge CHAPTERS 1, 3 and 4 (Chapter 2 is very similar to Chapter 4 in Munday (2016) in terms of content, so you can skip it or read it as further reading). • Parks, T. (2007), Translating Style, London: Routledge CHAPTERS 1; Chapter 2 (pp.15-18); Chapter 3 (pp. 58- 74)
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