| 1. |
- Liljegren, Lars, 1966-
(författare)
-
The Taming of a Viking : August Strindberg, Translation and Post-Victorian Censorship
- 2018
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation studies August Strindberg’s two-volume collection of short stories, Giftas (1884, 1886) and its first English translation, Ellie Schleussner’s Married (1913). The purpose is to demonstrate that Married deviates from the original in many ways, primarily on the very aspects that were generally associated with the work. The study also analyses and discusses possible influences on the translation outcome and its reception.The dissertation makes clear how the traditional image of Strindberg as a provocative author and a persuasive debater has almost disappeared in Married due to culturally motivated translational choices and the need to avoid state censorship, which could also explain the weak reception of Married. The hypothesis is that British readers were disappointed as Strindberg did not live up to the image they had expected to find. As there was state censorship of “obscene” publications in both Britain and the USA at the time Married was published, other Strindberg works saw similar changes in English translation. The conclusion is that a combination of these phenomena may help explain Strindberg’s relatively belated entry into the Anglo-American canon.The dissertation is carried out within the frames of translation studies, which is characterized by being multidisciplinary. The theoretical frame is based on descriptive translation studies (Gideon Toury) and polysystem theory (Itamar Even-Zohar), but it also incorporates perspectives from reception theory, the notion of multiple translatorship and imagology. Thus, it has both a source- and target-oriented focus. Of special relevance to the thesis are also the concepts of habitus, borrowed from the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, and the panopticon effect, as described by Michel Foucault.Through some key concepts and perspectives borrowed from actor-network theory, the study shows how a prerequisite for a successful transfer of Scandinavian works at this time was easy access for the authors or literary agents of the source culture to a network of cultural agents such as translators, publishers, theatre directors and critics. The study analyses how Strindberg’s access to such networks in France and Germany and his lack of a similar network in Britain and the USA may explain the divergent reception in these countries. In addition, the dissertation portrays the conditions for how European literature in general could migrate within Europe at the turn of the 20th century, and how the social norms in Britain and the USA in particular have affected the translation of Strindberg’s works.
|
|
| 2. |
- Axelsson, Marcus, 1979-
(författare)
-
”Kalla mig inte mamsell!” : En jämförelse av tre skandinaviska översättares behandling av kulturspecifika element i fransk- och engelskspråkig skönlitteratur
- 2016
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The present study deals with the work and practice of three Scandinavian translators, namely Kjell Olaf Jensen (Norwegian), Marianne Öjerskog (Swedish) and Agnete Dorph Stjernfelt (Danish). The main question of the thesis is what strategies the translators use when translating culture-specific elements from French and English. Theoretically the thesis positions itself within the framework of Descriptive Translation Studies and draws upon system theories as well as Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology of culture. The method consists of a source text – target text analysis, using a somewhat modified version of Pedersen’s (2007) method identifying seven translation strategies, namely (1) retention, (2) specification, (3) direct translation, (4) generalization, (5) substitution, (6) omission and (7) official equivalent. In this thesis the three former and the official equivalent are categorized as “adequate”, whereas generalization, substitution and omission are categorized as “acceptable” using Toury’s (2012) terminology. Six different types of culture-specific elements are investigated, namely (1) titles, address and professional titles, (2) currencies, (3) weights and measures, (4) literature and music, (5) education, and (6) names. In addition to this analysis, interviews with the three translators were carried out. Results show that there are both similarities and dissimilarities in the translators’ choices of translation strategies. It also turns out that the strategies used to a great extent depend on the culture-specific element in question and hardly ever on the source language. Results also suggest that the higher the translators’ amount of accumulated total capital, the more likely it is that they adopt a heterodoxic translation strategy. Jensen and Stjernfelt are more often positioned at one of the two extremes of the adequacy–acceptability axis than is the case for Öjerskog. Moreover, results from the interviews and the text analyses show that there are a number of norms that govern the translators’ practices. The translatorial practice is to manoeuver in a field governed by norms in order to produce the best possible target texts – target texts that are true to the original and conform to domestic literary standards.
|
|
