O tema da presente dissertação é a noção de Equivalência (Äquivalenz) de Werner Koller. Frequentemente atrelado às abordagens linguísticas à tradução, que, na segunda metade do século XX, buscaram conferir à pesquisa em tradução o estatuto de ciência, o conceito de equivalência foi alçado à condição de princípio teórico que garantiria a objetividade exigida das disciplinas que aspirassem à cientificidade. Para isso, porém, adotouse uma concepção abstrata e artificial de equivalência, que relegava o tradutor ao lugar de mero reprodutor de conteúdos pré-fixados pelo autor do original. Com o surgimento de novas vertentes de pesquisa no âmbito dos estudos de tradução, tais pressupostos foram postos em xeque, o que levou ao descarte e à estigmatização dessa noção. Se tomarmos por base a oposição elucidada por Kopetzki (1996), tal virada nos estudos de tradução pode ser interpretada como um movimento de concepções universalistas para concepções relativistas de língua e tradução, que rejeitam a ideia de tradução como transporte de significados imobilizados a priori. Diante disso, o objetivo desta pesquisa é demonstrar que a Equivalência de Koller não está calcada no universalismo que serve de base a outros modelos de equivalência tradutória, e que a noção defendida pelo autor tem validade prática, na medida em que funciona como um conceito operacional para tradutores profissionais e estudiosos da tradução. O presente trabalho se divide em duas grandes partes: a primeira é de caráter teórico e se destina à apresentação e à análise de trechos selecionados da obra de Koller, ainda inédita em português, a fim de evidenciar o caráter antiuniversalista de seus pressupostos; na segunda parte, mais voltada à prática, proponho uma maneira de aplicar seu conceito de Equivalência a um par de textos empíricos. O corpus que serve de base ao exemplo de aplicação é composto das ocorrências de cores presentes no romance Buddenbrooks: Verfall einer Familie (1909), de Thomas Mann, e na sua tradução para o português, de autoria de Herbert Caro e publicada no Brasil sob o título Os Buddenbrook: decadência duma família (1942). / The topic of this dissertation is Werner Kollers notion of equivalence (Äquivalenz). Often associated with the linguistic approaches to translation, which, in the second half of the 20th century, sought to make a scientific discipline out of the subject, equivalence turned into the one theoretical principle that would presumably guarantee the objectivity expected of any aspiring science. The consequence, however, was an abstract and artificial concept of equivalence, which portrayed translators as mere reproducers of contents that had been predetermined by the original author. With the advent of new research branches in the field of Translation Studies, such assumptions were called into question, which led to the discard and stigmatization of the concept. Bearing in mind the opposition brought to light by Kopetzki (1996), such a turn in Translation Studies may be interpreted as a move away from universalistic conceptions and a step towards relativistic conceptions of language and translation, which reject the idea of translation as the transport of pre-existing meanings. In view of that, the aim of this research is to demonstrate that Kollers Äquivalenz is not based upon the universalism that characterizes other theoretical frameworks to translation equivalence and can therefore be considered of practical relevance, inasmuch as it functions as an operational concept to professional translators and translation scholars. The present dissertation is divided in two main parts: the first part is of theoretical nature and is dedicated to the presentation and analysis of selected passages from Kollers work, still unedited in Portuguese, in order to demonstrate the antiuniversalistic character of his premises; in the second, more practice-oriented part, I propose a way of applying his concept of Equivalence to a pair of empirical texts. The corpus upon which this application example is based consists of instances of colour names found in the novel Buddenbrooks: Verfall einer Familie (1909), by Thomas Mann, and its translation to Portuguese, written by Herbert Caro and published in Brazil under the title Os Buddenbrook: decadência duma família (1942).

O tema da presente dissertação é a noção de Equivalência (Äquivalenz) de Werner Koller. Frequentemente atrelado às abordagens linguísticas à tradução, que, na segunda metade do século XX, buscaram conferir à pesquisa em tradução o estatuto de ciência, o conceito de equivalência foi alçado à condição de princípio teórico que garantiria a objetividade exigida das disciplinas que aspirassem à cientificidade. Para isso, porém, adotouse uma concepção abstrata e artificial de equivalência, que relegava o tradutor ao lugar de mero reprodutor de conteúdos pré-fixados pelo autor do original. Com o surgimento de novas vertentes de pesquisa no âmbito dos estudos de tradução, tais pressupostos foram postos em xeque, o que levou ao descarte e à estigmatização dessa noção. Se tomarmos por base a oposição elucidada por Kopetzki (1996), tal virada nos estudos de tradução pode ser interpretada como um movimento de concepções universalistas para concepções relativistas de língua e tradução, que rejeitam a ideia de tradução como transporte de significados imobilizados a priori. Diante disso, o objetivo desta pesquisa é demonstrar que a Equivalência de Koller não está calcada no universalismo que serve de base a outros modelos de equivalência tradutória, e que a noção defendida pelo autor tem validade prática, na medida em que funciona como um conceito operacional para tradutores profissionais e estudiosos da tradução. O presente trabalho se divide em duas grandes partes: a primeira é de caráter teórico e se destina à apresentação e à análise de trechos selecionados da obra de Koller, ainda inédita em português, a fim de evidenciar o caráter antiuniversalista de seus pressupostos; na segunda parte, mais voltada à prática, proponho uma maneira de aplicar seu conceito de Equivalência a um par de textos empíricos. O corpus que serve de base ao exemplo de aplicação é composto das ocorrências de cores presentes no romance Buddenbrooks: Verfall einer Familie (1909), de Thomas Mann, e na sua tradução para o português, de autoria de Herbert Caro e publicada no Brasil sob o título Os Buddenbrook: decadência duma família (1942). / The topic of this dissertation is Werner Kollers notion of equivalence (Äquivalenz). Often associated with the linguistic approaches to translation, which, in the second half of the 20th century, sought to make a scientific discipline out of the subject, equivalence turned into the one theoretical principle that would presumably guarantee the objectivity expected of any aspiring science. The consequence, however, was an abstract and artificial concept of equivalence, which portrayed translators as mere reproducers of contents that had been predetermined by the original author. With the advent of new research branches in the field of Translation Studies, such assumptions were called into question, which led to the discard and stigmatization of the concept. Bearing in mind the opposition brought to light by Kopetzki (1996), such a turn in Translation Studies may be interpreted as a move away from universalistic conceptions and a step towards relativistic conceptions of language and translation, which reject the idea of translation as the transport of pre-existing meanings. In view of that, the aim of this research is to demonstrate that Kollers Äquivalenz is not based upon the universalism that characterizes other theoretical frameworks to translation equivalence and can therefore be considered of practical relevance, inasmuch as it functions as an operational concept to professional translators and translation scholars. The present dissertation is divided in two main parts: the first part is of theoretical nature and is dedicated to the presentation and analysis of selected passages from Kollers work, still unedited in Portuguese, in order to demonstrate the antiuniversalistic character of his premises; in the second, more practice-oriented part, I propose a way of applying his concept of Equivalence to a pair of empirical texts. The corpus upon which this application example is based consists of instances of colour names found in the novel Buddenbrooks: Verfall einer Familie (1909), by Thomas Mann, and its translation to Portuguese, written by Herbert Caro and published in Brazil under the title Os Buddenbrook: decadência duma família (1942).

Der vorliegende Aufsatz ist eine Untersuchung innerhalb des C-Seminars für Deutsch an der Mälardalens Högskola. Die Zielsetzung besteht darin, in Thomas Manns »Buddenbrooks -Verfall einer Familie« zu untersuchen, ob die üblichen Interpretationen vom Charakter der Tony Buddenbrook ausreichend oder gar widersprüchlich sind. Die üblichen Interpretationen von Tony Buddenbrook gehen davon aus, dass sie »naiv«, »kindlich«, »kindisch« oder gar »töricht« sei. Es gibt in der Forschung aber auch alternative Deutungen von Tony und ihrem Charakterbild. Diese meinen, dass Tony keineswegs kindlich sei, sondern eine reife Frau, die einen Entwicklungsprozess durchläuft. Hier wird die Meinung vertreten, dass Tony viel komplexer ist, als in der bisherigen Forschung dargestellt wird. Ein wichtiges Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, diese alternativen Interpretationen stärker zu betonen und womöglich zu ergänzen. Deshalb werden ausgewählte Zitate und Passagen zu Tonys Charakterbild hervorgehoben, die den bekannten Interpretationen von Tony Buddenbrook eindeutig widersprechen und eher charakterliche Stichworte wie »stolz«, »traurig«, »selbstbewusst«, »verantwortungsvoll«, »familientreu«, »klug« und »reif« in den Mittelpunkt der Überlegungen stellen.

Six translations into Swedish of Thomas Mann’s novel Buddenbrooks werecompared, focusing on strategies for translating the author’s use of Germandialects and language varieties, such as Low German, Bavarian and West Prussian.The analysis was based on seven defined strategies for translation of dialects andcomprised 20 excerpts of non-standard German in the original text.The analysis showed that translation of German dialect into standard Swedish andomission of the non-standard German text except in the translated text were thedominating strategies used by the six translators.Despite the six translations into Swedish, a complete translation of Mann’s novelhas not been produced in the target language until 2005, a century after thepublication of the first Swedish version.

This thesis examines the creation of character in the work of Theodor Fontane. Although he is repeatedly praised as a great writer of human character, there is no comprehensive analysis of how Fontane's characters work. This thesis is intended to fill this surprising gap in Fontane research. Its analyses do not focus on the author-text interaction as many traditional critical approaches do, but instead look at what takes place between the text and the reader. The first section, entitled 'Character in Theory', has two chapters presenting my concept of literary character. It draws on the findings of cognitive studies, including formerly neglected aspects such as affective reading and empathy. The second section, 'Character in Practice', contains four chapters. Chapter three demonstrates how our emotions can contribute to our understanding and what role is played by empathy. Chapter four shows the active role readers are required to play when putting together information about characters in Fontane's polyphonous novels. Chapter five focuses on character speech, and chapter six asks to what extent Fontane's characters can be seen to develop. The third section, 'Character in Context', takes a less hermeneutic approach. Chapter seven asks what our expectations of Realist characters are and how these influence our reading of Fontane. Chapter eight examines how our access to these characters has changed compared to the author's contemporary readership. Chapter nine presents an excursus, looking at the author's development from renditions of 'real' people to fictional characters. The last section compares this author's creations to the tentatively Modernist characters of Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks. My findings show that Fontane's characters demand and support a more active reading than Realism is usually given credit for. They suggest that the concept of Realist characters as largely descriptive creations needs to be examined critically.