To the Zoominar

In my presentation, I investigate Franzos’ textual translatorship, defined as “the translator’s presence at the textual level” (Zhang et al., 2024, p. 8). Specifically, the aim of the study is to investigate whether the statements identified in the exogenetic material (letters) on Franzos’ textual translatorship while exploring her extratextual translatorship are corroborated by the published translations. Since there could be gaps between expressed intentions and actual translatorial behavior, studies of translators’ pronouncements confronted with the patterns revealed by their actual translations are of utmost interest (cf. Pym, 1998, pp. 111–112; Toury, 2012, p. 88). Furthermore, by looking at a combination of textual and contextual material, a more multifaceted and accurate picture of a translatorship can be given, supporting a more reliable analysis (cf. Alvstad et al., 2017, p. 7).  Similarly, in genetic translation studies, a genetic dossier can gather exogenetic material, containing annotations external to a studied text that can reveal specific aspects of it (Nunes et al., 2021, p. 2). Therefore, exogenetic material is used to formulate hypotheses on the translation choices crystallized in the published translations (e.g., Hersant, 2022).

The analyzed texts are Ellen Key’s essay “Skönhet” (1898) in its entirety and excerpts from Selma Lagerlöf’s short story Herr Arnes penningar (1904) and Per Hallström’s novel Döda fallet (1902) with their corresponding German translations. For the comparative analysis, I combined Lambert and van Gorp’s (2014) “scheme for translation description”, Toury’s (2012, p. 117) “coupled pairs of target- and source-text segments, ‘replacing’ and ‘replaced’ segments”, and Chesterman’s (1997) translation strategies. Once identified, I classified the segments according to the categories in my adaptation of Lambert and Van Gorp’s model. Then, the identified shifts were categorized according to Chesterman’s (1997) translation strategies. The results indicate that Franzos’ textual translatorship matches her stated intentions in the correspondence. In fact, her translations follow the translation norms typical for German at the time: source-text orientation and target language competence (cf. Weiß, 2019, p. 140).

References

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Alvstad, C., Greenall, A.K., Jansen, H., Taivalkoski-Shilov, K., 2017. Introduction: Textual and contextual voices of translation, in: Alvstad, C., Greenall, A.K., Jansen, H., Taivalkoski-Shilov, K. (Eds.), Textual and Contextual Voices of Translation. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, pp. 1–15.

Chesterman, A., 1997. Memes of Translation. John Benjamins, Amsterdam.

Hallström, P., 1902. Döda fallet, Nordiskt familjebibliotek. Bonnier, Stockholm.

Hersant, P., 2022. John Rodker, revising author and revised translator, in: Faria, D., Pacheco Pinto, M., Moura, J. (Eds.), Reframing Translators, Translators as Reframers. Routledge, New York, pp. 13–33.

Key, E., 1898. Skönhet, in: Tankebilder. Bonnier, Stockholm, pp. 129–151.

Lagerlöf, S., 1904. Herr Arnes penningar, Nordiskt familjebibliotek. Bonnier, Stockholm.

Lambert, J., van Gorp, H., 2014. On Describing Translation, in: Hermans, T. (Ed.), The Manipulation of Literature (Routledge Revivals). Routledge, London ; New York, pp. 42–53.

Nunes, A., Moura, J., Pacheco Pinto, M., 2021. What is Genetic Translation Studies good for?, in: Nunes, A., Moura, J., Pacheco Pinto, M. (Eds.), Genetic Translation Studies. Conflict and Collaboration in Liminal Spaces. Bloomsbury, London, pp. 1–23.

Pym, A., 1998. Method in Translation History. St. Jerome, Manchester.

Toury, G., 2012. Descriptive Translation Studies – and Beyond, Revised Edition. ed. John Benjamins, Amsterdam.

Weiß, C., 2019. Akteure des Wandels: Ein Rollenmodell des Übersetzungsprozesses anhand einer Untersuchung englisch-deutscher Literaturübersetzungen aus der Zwischenkriegszeit. Chronotopos - J. Transl. Hist. 1, 130–146.

Zhang, W., Akashi, M., Freeth, P.J., 2024. Locating the digital in literary translatorship. Transl. Soc. 3, 1–16.

Giada Brighi