Практикум по художественному переводу. е. Certainly, onecannot expect that every formal detail of ource text istranslatable but the task is to define which of may be neglected withthe least

е. Certainly, one cannot expect that every formal detail of ource text is translatable but the task is to define which of may be neglected with the least negative effects.

To put into words the main difference between Russian and ish traditions of poetry translation, we may concede that Rus-translators often fall into the sin of "making the foreign poet d better in Russian," while their British/American counter-may feel a.t ease in making him (or her) not sound at all by il throwing off the original versification pattern, as too rigid, the sake of a new order." Which is probably no less a sin. results are dubious: in Russia, non-English speakers (read-read, know and love a whole host of British/American poets, >r as well as major, while to the average American reader the es of major 20^lh — century Russian poets are at best obscure actually known only to the university public.

Some poets are renowned in the English-speaking USA,:xample, not for their poetry as translated into English but;r for their tragic fates — like Marina Tsvetaeva or Osip delshtam. Quoting Susan Miron from her review on Tsvetae- y Viktoria Schweitzer, "Outside the former Soviet Union, ina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941) is far better known today for her ide by hanging than for her poetry." This is due to translation certain extent. Tsvetaeva without her dashing rhymes, ner-j but well-arranged metre, and alliterative links between key ds, the unsurpassed play on sounds, which makes the very t of her poetry and gives a clue to the associative and imagi-¹ content, is a mere Jane Doe or some other decent poetic lan with no voice of her own. The purely semantic principle anslation is definitely inadequate in the case of Tsvetaeva.

There is a possible productive way for the theory of trans->n and translators of poetry, the comparative generative pros­it may serve as the basis for the theory of poetic translation will allow predicting the variety of actual prosodic parallels veen English and Russian systems of versification or recon-cting the basic model by its variants. There are some approach-

Imagery in Translation

es to such a theory in the studies of prosody from both general and national positions'. The concept of kernel rhythmic struc­tures and their direct and indirect connection with the cognitive and emotional processes is very important in understanding, in­terpreting and translating poetry². Anyhow, when translating po­etry, we should consider the form as more than a surface or liter­ary decoration. In fact, in true poetry, it is as integral a part of its content and imagery as is its syntactic structure or stylistic devic­es. To undertake a comparative study of the national peculiarities of the relationship between the prosodic form and contents in Russian and English literary traditions will definitely contribute to the theory of poetic translation. Yet a translator can make his own observations in the practical work on translating poetry from this point of view. For example, if a poet, classical or modern, uses the iambic tetrameter, it is only sensible on the part of the translator to consider the possible semantic, aesthetic and psy­chological functions of that verse form.

There is yet another obstacle for a translator of poetry, the one of cultural symbols, that is, words that have wide and impor­tant associative force in the source culture but are obscure, if at all comprehensible, for the culture of translation. When working in prose, such symbols may be commented upon, transformed by means of description, or replaced by some synonymous phrase. However, the verse space is limited, and one cannot enlarge the number of units in a line where each word needs weigh heavy. Actually, one of "national features," this phenomenon is untrans-

¹ M. Halle. On meter and prosody // Progress in linguistics. - Mouton,
1970; M. Halle, S. Keyser. English stress: its form, its growth and its role in
verse. - N.Y., 1971; M. Лотман. Генеративный подход в метрических шту­
диях // Русская филология. Вып. IV. 1975; М. А. Краснопсрова. Основы
реконструктивного моделирования стихосложения. - СПб., 2000.

² Andrey Bely addressed to the close relationship between rhythm,
metre and meaning in poetry in his famous book "Ритм как диалектика и
'Медный Всадник'. Исследование." (1929). Following many Russian scholars
Bely indicated different types of such relationship, which may be useful for

the translator.

_

Практикум но художественному переводу

latable in poetry; yet translators somehow manage to reconstruct even such "thorns" in the flesh of a poetic text. The rule is, you may omit an illusion or two, if untranslatable, but you should detect them in the source text so as not to misinterpret by a wrong substitution. The main problem about them is that they carry a strong emotive charge for the native readers of the source text and lack it in the perception of the readers in the target language when distorted, or misinterpreted. The famous poem by Man-delshtam Мы живем, под собою не чуя стрешы does not direct­ly name Stalin but introduces him through the easily recognizable descriptive phrases:

А где хватит па полразговорца, Там припомнят кремлевского горца.

«Кремлевский горец» turns into a vague "the mountain man of the Kremlin" in the translation of Richard Dauenhauer (though it would perhaps have been more appropriate to use the Kremlin Highlander or the Highlander in the Kremlin or the Cau­casian in the Kremlin becusc it also impies some national idea while Highlander is almost exclusively associated with Scotland), and the translator feels it necessary to supply the poem with a commentary where the name is mentioned: "When this poem fell into the hands of Stalin's secret police, Mandclshtam was arrest­ed..." This poem became a symbol of anti-Stalinist resistance for generations of Russian intelligentsia, and every word in it has an association with this or that political figure or feature of those hard times. Another example of misinterpretation of a symbol in this poem is the line Тараканьи смеются усища translated as His moustache laughs like a pair of cockroaches. Meanwhile, the word «тараканьи» refers to the one Cockroach (also «Тараканище» from the famous poem of Chukovsky), the dread­ful notorious Stalin himself, and definitely not to "a pair." Thus interpreted, the image lacks its nightmarish metaphorical quality and becomes a mere simile with a mildly comical effect.

28

Imagery in Translation

To sum up, when translating a poem we are dealing я only with the surface contents of it conveyed through the sema tics of words but with a cluster of interacting components, frc metre and rhyme to cultural symbolism, where every subtle d tail contributes to the imagery of the whole text. Alter the meti abandon the rhyme, or neglect the cultural symbol - and the r suit is a text that differs from the original in its basic qualitie Some translators try to justify such transformations with refe ence to the target reader's interests or preferences but the arg ment lacks cogency as, more often than not, it reflects the inte ests and preferences of the translator himself. The cogent argi ment should be the one that results in better understanding tl unique achievements of the source poetry.

This section includes classic as well as modern poets wi; samples of translation for comparison. Each unit begins with ii troductory notes containing some biographical data, commen on the works of the poet and on the particular problems of tran: lating them. Tasks for translation are supplied with directions an recommendations for the translator.

2<

Практикум по художественному переводу

Дата добавления: 2015-08-03