A.A. Aldabergenova
Kazakh Ablai khan University of International Relations and World Languages, Almaty, Kazakhstan, aikonya_01@mail.ru
FUNCTIONAL PECULIARITIES OF TRANSLATION OF AMERICAN ABSURD LITERATURE
The article was implemented within the framework of the project AP0513 30 19 of the
Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan «Cultural codes of modern Kazakhstan (literary and media discourses)». The article deals with functional peculiarities of translation of American absurd literature. The literature of the absurd appeared at the junction of the opposite of reality and the inner world of man, thereby expressing the spiritual crisis of mankind in a certain historical time. Translation of absurd literature is one of the most complicated literary translations. After all, to translate the absurd literature it is necessary to understand the phenomenon of «absurd as a literary text», and how it is perceived in the culture of different nations and ethnics. Translation of modern absurd literature requires profound knowledge and understanding of the phenomena absurd and conceptual aspects of science of translation.
Key words: American absurd literature, functional peculiarities of translation, translation problems, literary text.
Modern linguistics studies many complex problems among them an important place is occupied by the study of the linguistic aspects of interlingual speech activity, which is called «translation» or «translation activity».
Translation is the re-creation of a text in another language and within another culture. Traditionally, «translation» refers to either the text created by the translator, or the process of creating such a text. Translation has a centuries-old history. It appeared during the formation of various cultures, ethnic groups and, accordingly, unique dialects. Then there was a need for people who could provide mutual understanding between different people, that is, translators.
In recent years, studies show that the study of the translation of absurd literature is of great theoretical and practical interest for linguists, literary scholars, philologists and translators. The study of the absurd literature, as a literary text, is one of the sought-after directions.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a new direction appeared in world literature — the literature of the absurd. According to the definition of V. V. Shilke,»The work of absurdist writers has become a kind of artistic document that fully and faithfully captured the spiritual crisis of mankind in the historical time, expressed in the recognition of the loss and integrity of the world and the meaninglessness of existence in it.» [1].It should also be noted that since the antiquity the concept of absurd had three meanings. First, it denoted the aesthetic category, expressing the negative properties of reality. Secondly, the word absurd had the meaning of the so-called logical absurd, that is, the negation of the main element of rationality-logic, the absence of meaning. And, finally, thirdly, the word absurd had a metaphysical meaning, consisting in being beyond the reasonable. In each epoch, attention was accentuated on any one side of this category [2, 11]. Y. Shenkman believes that»Absurd, first of all — an obvious violation of formal logic. And yet, the absurd is clearly a logical, not a chaotic category. It marks a different point of view on phenomena and objects and is based on a special type of logic — on logic, free from stereotypes of ordinary consciousness, from cliches and all that lies on the line of «earthly». Considering the logic of the absurd as the logic of the perception of life, it is easy to see: only it is free from cliches, only it is real and gives a true image. Becoming an artistic device, a way to comprehend the universe, the absurd completely rejects the cliched perception, exists besides experience. The first reality is not thinking, but speech and sight. This view is directed to the individual future of the observer, he has traumatic relations with the present, he does not accept the past «[3, 58].
The most detailed complex study of the formation and semantic development of the word «absurd» was conducted by O.V. Burenina [4,7]. In particular, the author gives the following two points of view:
1) according to European dictionaries, the concept is derived from the contamination of the Latin words absonus «cacophonic» and surdus «deaf». Some linguists raise the origin of these words to the onomatopoeic susurrus «whistle». Pavel Chernykh in the «Historical and etymological dictionary of the modern Russian language» echoes F. Klug, pointing out that the root of this word is suer «whispering». Pavel Chernykh suggests that «it was with the derivative of the word susurrus that the word surdus crossed in the future» [4, 7-8].
2) a sample for the Latin word, according to Thesaurus in 1831, and also the «Greek-Russian» dictionary of AD. Weisman, served the Greek an-oboq «awkward, inharmonious.» The same point of view is followed by A. Furieter (deplaifant a Voreille, which means «unpleasant for the ear, cacophonous») [5, 39]. The origin of this term is attributed to Sanskrit. For example, Ottorino Pianigiani in the Etymological Dictionary of the Italian Language states that the root word for «absurd» was the word «svar» = «suar», which means «to play, to sound» [6, 115]. In fact, «svar» is a polysemantic word, however, the first meaning is «to make a sound, to sound loud, to be heard» [7, 95].
Indeed, in the transitional epochs, the fundamental foundations of the outgoing culture are maximally generalized and breakthroughs to the future are made. The crisis and experimental state of the literature correlates with more general processes experienced by culture in the transitional period of its development. The nature of the literature of the transition period is characterized by specific coexistence and interpenetration of various, often opposing literary principles — there are conflicting and unstable syntheses of genres and literary forms. Perhaps the most adequate form of an original answer to the challenges of the transitional era is the absurd literature, exposing the conventions, rules, laws, and logical meanings that are meaningless, paradoxical, ridiculous. Thanks to this, the ugly and sublime, the unreal and reality, the present and the future becomes closer, the contradictions of reality intertwines.
The functions of the absurd are different: on the one hand, it leads to the destruction of stereotypes of thinking and perception, on the other hand, it allows revealing the distortion, alogism of thinking and human behavior. In addition, the picture of the world of the absurd literature is characterized by a clearly manifested game origin. Certainly, here we can underline the work of D. Harms, who wrote about his creative credo, metaphysical and poetic project of comprehending reality in the diary absolutely clearly and definitely: «I’m only interested in» rubbish»; … life only in its absurd manifestation»[8].
The main goal of Harms was to penetrate into reality on its own, searching not only for «a specific subject, cleared of literary and everyday husks», but also a new poetic and philosophical language. J.-F. Jacquard points out that Harms is a logical phenomenon in the history of Russian literature of the beginning of the century because of his search for a new language that is capable of «expressing the ineffable, magical language, superior to the mind and allowing to make sense that» the senses of sleepy flocks «could never express «[9, 76].
According to J.-F. Jacquard, the work of Harms should be viewed «not as a failed attempt to express the unspeakable, which was part of the plan of modernism, but as a successful attempt to express the limitations and impossibility of this enterprise. Harms refers to that vast category of writers who, in order to answer the great existential questions, were asked to find out what was said, and who in their poetic practice dared to say with sadness: nothing «[9, 76].
The process of literary translation is of interest to researchers for many centuries. The problem of translation remains relevant, since each period in the development of language is associated with changes in its lexical composition and puts forward new layers of vocabulary, new units of language. Modern literature actively uses this vocabulary, and it creates difficulties in translation.
It is impossible to create a translation text that would be an accurate functional and communicative copy of the original, since it is impossible to completely match the conceptual systems of communicants. The translator strives for the maximum textual similarity of the source text (ST) and the translated text (TT), provided that the equal impact of these texts is maintained on their recipients. Compared to the author, a translator does not have the freedom to express his own opinion or the perception of ST, he is within his judgment. But this fact should not limit the translator-artist to convey to the recipient the whole essence of the text, the author’s intention and style.
Literary translation from one language to another is one of the means of enriching the language, literature, culture of the people. Translation of literary texts should be carried out taking into account not only the source (SL) and translating (TL) languages, but also taking into account extralinguistic and ethnolinguistic factors. The ability to select the most appropriate, the most «natural»form of expression for a given language, in fact, is what is called a «language instinct,»the comprehension of the «spirit of the language, «notes V.G.Gak [10, 7].
It is impossible to talk about the principles of correspondence in translation, without recognizing that there are many different types of translation. As Y.A. Naida correctly notes, the differences in the types of translation as a whole can be explained by three main factors influencing the choice of one or another type: (1) the nature of the message, (2) the intentions of the author, and hence the translator as his confidant, (3) the type of audience [11,115].
American absurd literature, as a literary text, presents a special difficulty for translators precisely because of the discrepancies between the cultural and speech traditions of the speakers of the original language and the translated language. Here it is necessary to emphasize the uniqueness of the absurd literature. We can distinguish the following features of the genre of the absurd: Lack of logic
Play on words
Humorous content
Fantastic images
Neologisms
A clear rhythm (in the literature of poetry)
In order to translate in the first place, you need to understand the text itself and the intention of the author. There is no causal logic that is customary for the reader in the texts of absurd poetry. The most interesting and complex is that absurdist poets often create fantastic images through the play of words, and their own original neologisms. In the process of translating the absurd, all the above features should be taken into account by the translator. In our opinion, to translate the absurd literature is not enough to be just a translator, and also it is necessary to have the talent of a writerartist and an endless imagination. After all, all these characters are fictitious, the chain of their actions and actions in the translation should cause the same emotions in the recipient, as in the original text.
For example, we can take the novel of Joseph Heller «Catch-22» and his translation, made by
A. Kistyakovsky «Поправка-22». («Catch-22» was written in 1961 and the translation by A.A. Kistyakovskiy of AST Publishers, 2015). In translation it is possible to see not only stylistic, lexical, but also syntactic difficulties arising in the translation process. First, you need to take into account that the original text was written in the distant 50-ies of the 20th century. Naturally, the translation should take into consideration temporary, territorial changes. For example:
He was comfortable in the hospital, and it was easy to stay on because he always ran a temperature of 101.
Ему вольготно жилось в госпитале, причем выписки он ничуть не боялся, потому что температура у него устойчиво держалась градуса на полтора выше нормы.
This translation is really very interesting, in the original the temperature is indicated in «101», but in translation the translator can not indicate such a temperature, and he gives the translation «на полтора градуса выше нормы». Accordingly, this indicates that the translator is additionally looking for information to make it clear to the reader. Indeed, in Fahrenheit this is 38.33 Celsius. Following, the translator easily finds an outlet, giving the most optimal version of the translation as » на полтора градуса выше нормы».
Secondly, it is the style of the author. Each writer has his own style, his own peculiarity and color, which in translation can not be lost in any case. After all, many readers read books because of this writing style, which is close to them. For example, we will analyze the following paragraph:
The chaplain fidgeted. “Is there anything I can do for you?” he asked after a while.
“No, no.” Yossarian sighed. “The doctors are doing all that’s humanly possible, I suppose.”
“No, no.” The chaplain colored faintly. “I didn’t mean anything like that. I meant cigarettes…or books…or…toys.”
“No, no,” Yossarian said. “Thank you. I have everything I need, I suppose – everything but good health.”
The author often uses such repeated speeches or so we say the play of words, in conversational speeches, creating not a clever or ridiculous situation. In translation it sounds like this:
Капеллан поерзал на краешке стула.
— Может, вам что-нибудь нужно?- спросил он.
— Да нет, — вздохнул Йоссариан. Врачи, по-моему, делают все возможное.
— Да нет, — слегка зардевшись, проговорил капеллан, — я не про это. Я про книги … или там сигареты … или, к примеру, игрушки …
— Да нет, — отозвался Йоссариан. – Большое спасибо. У меня вроде все есть –все, кроме здоровья.
The translator translates the expression «No, no» as «Да нет», thus leading some foreigners into confusion. In the phrase «да нет», the word «да» is just an interjection, the word «нет» is a common denial. And it means this expression «I do not know for sure, but I guess not.»
And thirdly, grammatical, lexical and syntactic norms of translation can not be ignored. Let’s take the following example for analysis:
It was LOVE at first sight.
The first time Yossarian saw the chaplain he fell madly in love with him.
Йоссариан полюбил капеллана мгновенно.
С первого взгляда и до последнего вздоха.
Nurse Duckett made a note to give Yossarian another pill, and the four of them moved along to the next bed.
Мисс Даккит заносила распоряжение в свой блокнот и перемещалась вслед за врачами к следующей койке.
In these sentences we can see the following translation transformations:
In word for word translation «It was LOVE at first sight» – Эта была любовь спервого взгляда. However the translator takes into account the word «LOVE» was written with capital letters gives another version of translation as «С первого взгляда и до последнего вздоха». By this the meaning of the sentence was not changed. In the second sentence «The first time Yossarian saw the chaplain he fell madly in love with him» – Впервые как Йоссариан увидел капеллана он безумно влюбился в него. In translation first and second sentences are united and it is easy to note the method of omission of such words as как «fell madly in love, with him, it», and the method of addition «до последнего вздоха», although in the original text it didn’t exist. It is possible to highlight the method of transliteration «Yossarian»- «Йоссариан», it is the method of translating the lexical unit of the original by recreating its graphic form with the help of the letters of the translation language.
Nurse Duckett – in translation sounds like «Мисс Даккит» instead of words «Медсестра Даккит» translator decided to use the method of substitutionand to leave it as «Мисс Даккит». In these sentences we can enumerate such translation transformations as substitution, transcription, transliteration, omission, addition and others.
There are many examples and parsing that lead to the conclusion that translating is not just finding a match to the word, to translate is to get along with the role of the author, to get into that era, at that time, and to find such lexical and grammatical norms, which would be heartfelt to the reader, and did not change the author’s sense and style.
Translation can not always be successful. Sometimes in translation it is possible to create a new formation, identical to the original also in meaning, and in the form of its expression. To this end, it is possible to use complex words of an occasional type, the semantic and structural features of which indicate an attempt by the translator to get as close to the original as possible, using the word-building capabilities of the Russian language. So, when translating the absurd literature there can not be standard solutions, in which the specific context, its individual features and the purpose of the translation are not taken into account. We should also highlight the constant need to deviate from the verbatim accuracy in the translation in order to preserve the author’s style.
Список литературы
1. Шильке В.В. Мировоззренческие основы литературы абсурда Электронный ресурс] // URL: http://www.rusnauka.com/27_NNM_2011/Philologia/8_92829.doc.htm (дата обращения: 26.07.2018).
2. Абсурд и вокруг: Сб. статей / Отв. ред. О. Буренина. – М.: Языки славянской культуры, 2004. – С. 7-72.
3. Шенкман Я. Логика абсурда Хармс: отечественный текст и мировой контекст // Вопросы литературы. — 1998. — №4. — С. 54–80.
4. Буренина О.Д. Что такое абсурд, или по следам Мартина Эсслина. Абсурд и вокруг: Сборник статей. Отв. ред. — М.: Языки славянской культуры, 2004. — 443 с.
5. Furetiere A. Dictionnaire Universel Contenant Généralement Tous les mots francois, tantvieux que modernes, et les termes de toutes les sciences et des arts. — Vol. I. – Rotterdam, La Haye 1949. — 1048 p.
6. Pianigiani, O. Vocabolario etimologico della lingua italiana. — Roma: Albrighi&Segati,
1907. — 1559 p.
7. Macdonell A.A. Sanskrit-English Dictionary. – New Delhi: J. Jetley, 2004. — 384 p.
8. Клюев Е. Теория литературы абсурда // http://www.e-
reading.by/bookreader.php/27968/Klyuev_-_Teoriya_literatury_absurda.html
9. Жаккар Ж.-Ф. Даниил Хармс и конец русского авангарда. — СПб.:
Академический проект, 1995. — С. 94.
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11. Найда Ю.А. К науке переводить. Принципы соответствий. М.:1978.
А.А. Алдабергенова
Функциональные особенности перевода американской литературы абсурда
Казахский Университет Международных Отношений
Статья выполнена в рамках проекта AP0513 30 19 КН Министерства образования и науки РК «Культурные коды современного Казахстана (литературный и медийный дискурсы)». В статье рассматриваются функциональные особенности перевода американской литературы абсурда. Литература абсурда появилась на стыке противоположности реальности и внутреннего мира человека, она выразила духовный кризис человечества в определенное историческое время. Перевод литература абсурда одна из сложнейших переводов художественной литературы. Ведь для перевода абсурда необходимо понять сам феномен «абсурд — как художественный текст», и как он воспринимается в культуре разных народов и этносов.Перевод литературы абсурда требует глубокого знания и понимания самого феномена абсурда и концептуальных аспектов науки о переводе.
А.А.Алдабергенова
Американдық абсурд әдебиетін аударудың функционалдық ерекшеліктері
Бұл мақала № AP0 513 30 19 Қазақстан Республикасының Білім және ғылым Министрлігінің «Қазіргі Қазақстанның ұлттық кодтары (әдеби және медиялық дискурс)» жобасы негізінде орындалған. Мақалада американдық абсурд әдебиетін аударудың функционалдық ерекшеліктері қарастырылады. Абсурд әдебиеті адамның ішкі өмірі мен шынайылықтың қақтығысы негізінде пайда болды. Ол белгілі бір тарихи кезеңде адамзаттың рухани күйзелісін білдірді. Абсурд әдебиетін аудару көркем шығарма аударудың ең күрделі түрлерінің бірі. Абсурд әдебиетін аудару үшін абсурд феноменін көркем шығарма мәтіні ретінде түсініп, оның түрлі ұлттар мен этностар арасында қалай қабылданатынын мін берген жөн. Ол абсурд шығармашылығымен қатар аударматану саласында да ұзақ зерттеуді және терең түсінуді қажет етеді.