Narrative Theory and Retranslation Theory

Abstract

In the paper I bring together two sets of theories from Narrative Theory and from Retranslation Theory. Links and similarities between the theories are examined under the headings of Essence, Social Conditioning, and Interpretation. A post-structuralist narrative theory is presented, and I extrapolate from this to propose a post-structuralist retranslation theory. After the theoretical discussion I report on the study of a corpus comprising Zola's novel Nana and its five major British (re)translations. The aim is to evaluate how well the theories regarding narrative versions and retranslations hold up with respect to a study of data. A conclusion is reached as to which theories best explain the data. The paper concludes too that bringing together sets of theories from different but related disciplines can be productive in conceptualizing translational phenomena, in this case the phenomenon of retranslation.

Revisiting “Retranslation Hypothesis”: A Comparative Analysis of Stylistic Features in the Persian Retranslations of <i>Pride and Prejudice</i>

“…A final word is that although the findings of this study support RH claims, there are still other counter-examples, which contradict the results (see Brownlie, 2006;Hadizade, 2009). As Paloposki and Koskinen (2003Koskinen ( , 2004 concluded in their research, there are numerous retranslations in line with the RH schema, but there also exist many examples to the contrary.…”

“…By contrast, Brownlie (2006) points out that changing social contexts and the evolution of translation norms are major factors leading to retranslate a previously translated text. Pym also gives some explanation on the reasons for retranslation act "ranging from different pedagogical functions of texts to rivalry in the possession of the knowledge contained in the document to be translated " (1998: pp.…”

“…Theoretical assumptions on retranslation were discussed in a special issue of the journal Palimpsestes in 1990 by Berman and Bensimon whose position on retranslation is briefly what constitutes the basis for the so-called "Retranslation Hypothesis" (Koskinen & Paloposki, 2003;Brownlie, 2006). Berman (1990: pp.…”

Retranslation hypotheses revisited: A case study of two English translations of "Sanguo Yanyi" - the first Chinese novel

“…The most frequently retranslated works are sacred texts and literary works (Brownlie 2006:146, Aaltonen 2003. Most great classics of the world have been translated more than once.…”

Os desafios na tradução de itens culturais específicos: o caso de The Master and Margarida de Mikhail Bulgarov

“…Motives for retranslations have been thoroughly researched (Berman 1990, Brownlie 2006, Venuti 2003, Vanderschelden 2000, and yet it is hard to explain why Bulgakov's masterpiece 1 Although it would be interesting to include other English translations of the novel by Ginsburg (1967), Burgin and O'Connor (1995) and Karpelson (2006), the limits of this paper do not allow it. 2 The first uncensored version of the novel was released in 1975 by the publishing house YMCA-Press (Belobrovceva and Kulnus 2007 30). attracted the attention of translators almost thirty years after Glenny's translations, when two subsequent retranslations appeared, one by Diana Burgin and Katherine O'Connor in 1995 (Vintage books), and another by Pevear and Volokhonsky (1997).…”